The Lottery by: Shirley Jackson
Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" leaves the reader feeling uncomfortably disturbed.It is a story about society, traditions and the way we follow them just because generations before us have. In general, a tradition is something that's been handed down from generation to generation. We often go along with them without questioning the meaning or perhaps even changing them for our own conveniences. Let's take for example our traditional holidays of Easter and Christmas; originally, these were religious holidays. These traditions were meant to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and the rising of Jesus from the tomb after his death. What are these traditions today? They have changed and become commercially oriented with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. Do we question this? Maybe some do, but for the most part, we just go along with it. Many of us have taught our own children to decorate the Christmas tree, or the Easter eggs. We may still put a manger under the tree, or put chocolate crosses in the Easter basket. Most of us have probably not taken the time to explain why. This is comparable to the way they give little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles (228) training him to carry on the tradition for future
Have you made any changes over the years for your convenience? While our traditions are not as ghastly as the one in "The Lottery" Jackson makes her readers look at society and the hypocrisies they impose on themselves and others. Graves goes to get his slip we are told, "Mr. The setting is used to lead you to believe the exact opposite of what is about to take place. Times when sacrificial rituals were of the norm; virgins jumping into volcanoes and such, however, from the mention of tractors in the story we know this is in the twentieth century. "Listening to the young folks, nothing's good enough for them. Tessie comes to the square late and makes light of it. Martin, the owner of the grocery store, assists Mr. Being late showed how Tessie trivialized the lottery. Summers conducts the lottery every summer. Summers in the making up of the slips. Jackson uses this contrast of setting to show her point of how society will hide behind traditions and rituals.
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