Tradition In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery
Analysis of the Tradition in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”
Shirley Jackson illustrates the struggle between choosing personal morals, versus blindly following the masses. When you stop questioning authority, you relinquish your individuality and the tools that you’ve been given to rationalize your decisions. Traditions and customs often lose their meaning and value once it becomes a game of follow the leader. In Jackson’s short story, the tradition of the lottery began with the first village settlers, prior to Old Man Warner’s birth, seventy-seven years ago. Over time, certain aspects of the ritual have been dropped, such as substituting slips of paper for chips of wood, a recital prior to the lottery, and a salute to address each
Shirley Jackson illustrates the struggle between choosing personal morals, versus blindly following the masses. When you stop questioning authority, you relinquish your individuality and the tools that you’ve been given to rationalize your decisions. Traditions and customs often lose their meaning and value once it becomes a game of follow the leader. In Jackson’s short story, the tradition of the lottery began with the first village settlers, prior to Old Man Warner’s birth, seventy-seven years ago. Over time, certain aspects of the ritual have been dropped, such as substituting slips of paper for chips of wood, a recital prior to the lottery, and a salute to address each