Upon receiving this assignment I decided to write about an element in human nature rather than discuss stories. The stories that I choose to help me get my point across are "The Lottery" by, Shirley Jackson, and "A Rose For Emily" by, William Faulkner. These stories do not seem to have a lot in common at first but as you will see they do. The element of society that I choose to discuss is the element of tradition. I think that in our society we put way to much importance on tradition.
             A Rose for Emily is a gruesome story about the sad life of a southern bell. The Lottery is a equally gruesome story about a town that kills one person every year. In A Rose for Emily, Emily is a southern bell that grew up in good times. Her dad did not think that there was any man good enough for his little daughter Emily. This led to a lot of problems Emily grew up her whole life with out a husband. She was a "Southern Bell" which meant that she could not settle for just any man she had to have "a man." This was burned into her mind for so long because of tradition. Being a southern bell she could not marry just an ordinary guy. Tradition told her that she was too good for an ordinary man. This was backed up by her father who would chase guys away that were not good enough for his daughter.
             The Lottery is a story involving tradition in its purest form. This is a story about a town that once a year they all get together in the town square and pick cards. If a family gets the marked card then the family has to pick again. When the family picks the second time the person in the family who gets the card that is marked gets stoned. Know that this is not a real story but I think that the author had a point to get across. Anyone that looks at this story will say man that is the dumbest thing I have ever read why would they just kill someone for no reason. But it happens in our society all the tim
             ...