Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” depicts a village tradition which ends with one of the villagers being chased down and stoned by her friends, family, and neighbors. Such an outrageous and violent ritual must have strong reasoning behind it; however, none of the villagers really know why they do it. The lottery is a tradition that has been going on for years and is generally accepted. Shirley Jackson uses generational conflict in “The Lottery” to show that following tradition can cause motivation to be blinded.6
The loss of traditions over the years demonstrates how following tradition can lead to blinded motivation. The ritual once involved many traditions including, “a recital of some sort, performed by the official of the lottery” (Jackson …show more content…
As the lottery has progressed, the younger generations have grown less interested in the lottery. The new generations are the ones who will have the power to put an end to the lottery, but it is hard to do so when they have been raised participating in it. Upon arrival to the town square, one boy, “stuffed his pockets full of stones” (Jackson 410) in preparation, and the other boys followed his lead. During what should be considered a gruesome event, the boys’ first instinct is to find stones in order to take part in the stoning. Two of the boys, “made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square and guarded it against the raids of the other boys” (Jackson 410). Any one of the boys’ family members could be chosen to die during the ceremony, but instead of reacting in fear, they are running around playfully as if it were just another day. Just before the stoning, “someone gave little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles” (Jackson 415). This demonstrates just how young the children are who are participating in the ritual. These children have no idea what the purpose of the lottery is, but they go along with it cheerfully because they have been raised to do
The loss of traditions over the years demonstrates how following tradition can lead to blinded motivation. The ritual once involved many traditions including, “a recital of some sort, performed by the official of the lottery” (Jackson …show more content…
As the lottery has progressed, the younger generations have grown less interested in the lottery. The new generations are the ones who will have the power to put an end to the lottery, but it is hard to do so when they have been raised participating in it. Upon arrival to the town square, one boy, “stuffed his pockets full of stones” (Jackson 410) in preparation, and the other boys followed his lead. During what should be considered a gruesome event, the boys’ first instinct is to find stones in order to take part in the stoning. Two of the boys, “made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square and guarded it against the raids of the other boys” (Jackson 410). Any one of the boys’ family members could be chosen to die during the ceremony, but instead of reacting in fear, they are running around playfully as if it were just another day. Just before the stoning, “someone gave little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles” (Jackson 415). This demonstrates just how young the children are who are participating in the ritual. These children have no idea what the purpose of the lottery is, but they go along with it cheerfully because they have been raised to do