Essay on “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson A Brutal Tradition

The famous civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. once said: â€Å"The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people,† capturing the main message of the short story â€Å"The Lottery,† by Shirley Jackson, perfectly, because of the themes of peer pressure and tradition present throughout the story. In this story, the people of a small village gather for their annual tradition, a lottery, in which one person is picked at random out of a box containing each of the villagers’ names. The village, which is not specifically named, seems like any other historic village at first, with the women gossiping, the men talking, and the children playing, but soon takes a sinister turn when it†¦show more content†¦None of the villagers dare to question further until they are chosen, when, having nothing to lose, they hypocritically protest. â€Å"‘It isn’t fair, it isn’t right, ’ Mrs. Hutchinson, [the lottery â€Å"winner†], screamed† (Jackson, 58), just as she was about to die. This argument is further supported when Jackson states: â€Å"Mr. Summers, [the official of the lottery], spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box† (Jackson, 46). This shows how, even though the black box â€Å"grew shabbier each year† (Jackson, 46), the villagers refused to replace it because it represented tradition for them; it represented how much the lottery meant simply because it was a constant, something that did not change. They did not fear change, they feared the consequences of that change. It was easier for them to continue on with the lottery than defy the authority figures bent on maintaining it. As Old Man Warner states: â€Å"Used to be a saying about ‘Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.’ First thing you know, weâ₠¬â„¢d all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns† (Jackson, 52). The villagers saw the lottery as a mark of their village, believing that removing it would bring doom. In conclusion, the lottery serves no purpose in the story â€Å"The Lottery,† and instead serves as a reminder of human hypocrisy and the dangers of blindly following tradition. It is noShow MoreRelatedThe Lottery by Shirley Jackson1764 Words   |  7 Pagesfilled with excitement and eeriness, leaving the reader speechless. The Lottery , a short story written by famous writer Shirley Jackson, created an uproar on June 26, 1948, when it was published in the magazine The New Yorker (Ball). The gothic thriller, set in an unknown time and place, shares the tradition of a small town, a little larger than three hundred people, in which a drawing is held once a year. In this â€Å"Lottery,† each family’s husband draws a slip of paper from a black box. The husbandRead MoreThe Lottery By Shirley Jackson. 1. Focus/Thesis For Your885 Words   |  4 Pages THE LOTTERY by Shirley Jackson 1. 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The people and tradition Shirley Jackson in her short story the â€Å"TheRead More Analysis of The Lottery by Shirley Jackson Essay693 Words   |  3 PagesAnalysis of The Lottery by Shirley Jackson â€Å"The Lottery† by Shirley Jackson was written in 1948. The story takes place in a village square of a town on June 27th. The author does not use much emotion in the writing to show how the barbaric act that is going on is look at as normal. This story is about a town that has a lottery once a year to choose who should be sacrificed, so that the town will have a plentiful year for growing crops. Jackson has many messages about human nature in this shortRead MoreThe Lottery by Shirley Jackson Essay987 Words   |  4 PagesThe Lottery By: Shirley Jackson Summary: The Lottery happens in June every year in a small village of about 300 people. 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The story reveals how traditions can become outdated and ineffective. â€Å"I suppose, I hoped, by setting a particularly brut al ancient rite in the present and in my own village to shock the storys readersRead MoreEssay The Truth in the Lottery1338 Words   |  6 Pagesreally has an answer for it, we just do. Traditions are something that is passed from generation to generation, even if we have no backing for what we do, we just know its â€Å"good† and its â€Å"tradition† so its apart of us. Shirley Jackson mocks our way of blindly following certain traditions. Characteristics of Jackson’s story create a parallel with Catholicism, by harping on our fear of change but our ability to manipulate what we want from our traditions and the basis of Catholicism’s belief of theRead MoreCatholicism Exposed in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson Essay1303 Words   |  6 PagesTraditions are something that are passed from generation to generation. Tradition becomes a part of who we are as a scociety. 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Summers is in charge of the central motif of the storyRead MoreThe Lottery vs the Destructors Essay examples1046 Words   |  5 PagesThesis In Shirley Jackson’s, â€Å"The Lottery†, and Graham Greene’s â€Å"The Destructors†, the author creates a story filled with symbolism, irony, grim reality, and a ritualized tradition that masks evil, which ultimately showcases how people blindly follow tradition. Outline I. Introduction II. Setting B. Time Period III. Plot A. What messages are seen in