In “The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson, tradition is crucial in society. The townspeople are expected to stone one person every year, no one questions this cruel practice due to tradition. The black box in the story was an important symbol. The black box was the box that the townspeople chose slips of paper out of to determine who was to be stoned. The other important symbol was the lottery alone. The lottery was the process as a whole. The symbols of the black box and the lottery itself, further emphasized how blindly following tradition can be detrimental to a society. The black box in “The Lottery” is a strong symbol of blindly following tradition. This symbolism appears during a description of the black box, “And the black box now resting
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The only reason the lottery still takes place today is due to the people of the town blindly following tradition. The last thing the townspeople would want to do is stop practicing the lottery because it’s wrong, and risk breaking the status quo. A quote that symbolizes tradition through that actual lottery is, “Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones.” This observation goes to show how ignorant the people are about the lottery. They don’t know why they are stoning people, they don’t understand the significance of it, all they know is that they must stone one person yearly. All the previous townspeople have done it for many generations, and they don’t want to be the year that breaks the pattern. Everyone is involved in the lottery, even those who know nothing about its significance. “The children had stones already.” This quote goes to show that children participate in the lottery to just because it’s what their parents did, and likely to be what their future children will do. They are young kids who obviously were not educated on the difference between right and wrong. They grew up being taught the tradition of the lottery, and if they knew between right and wrong and were able to grow up freely without their parents influencing them the culture in the town would be different. But the parents cannot risk breaking tradition, so
The only reason the lottery still takes place today is due to the people of the town blindly following tradition. The last thing the townspeople would want to do is stop practicing the lottery because it’s wrong, and risk breaking the status quo. A quote that symbolizes tradition through that actual lottery is, “Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones.” This observation goes to show how ignorant the people are about the lottery. They don’t know why they are stoning people, they don’t understand the significance of it, all they know is that they must stone one person yearly. All the previous townspeople have done it for many generations, and they don’t want to be the year that breaks the pattern. Everyone is involved in the lottery, even those who know nothing about its significance. “The children had stones already.” This quote goes to show that children participate in the lottery to just because it’s what their parents did, and likely to be what their future children will do. They are young kids who obviously were not educated on the difference between right and wrong. They grew up being taught the tradition of the lottery, and if they knew between right and wrong and were able to grow up freely without their parents influencing them the culture in the town would be different. But the parents cannot risk breaking tradition, so