To be honest I was a little bit confused by this story. I assumed that because it was set on June 27th 1948 that the story would be about the Berlin Airlift, because that was the day that it opened. But it was really about a small town of around three hundred people on the day of the lottery. every man picks a slip of paper and the one with a black spot on it has to have their entire family draw from the papers, including that of the black spot. whoever has it get’s “stoned.” In the case of this story, Bill Hutchinson drew the first black spot and all five members of his household had to draw again. The person with the spot the second time around was his wife, Tessie. So all of the townsfolk, including Bill and their children had to throw stones
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First of all, they have changed the tradition from wood chips to paper slips, and it’s not the original box. So if the tradition is so old that such accommodations need to be made, then maybe it’s too old. Especially if the people performing it don’t know why they are doing it, because that would mean they were blindly following the tradition. Ritual murder such as this seems not only morally unsound, but also unnecessary. The worst part is that the lottery represents any action, behavior, or idea that is passed down from one generation to the next that’s accepted and followed unquestioningly, no matter how illogical, bizarre, or cruel. The people of the town are technically murderers, yet they seem to feel no remorse, no guilt. This extreme story is just proof of how out of hand things can get if people never question or critically address tradition but rather follow it blindly. There is this quote by Rabbi Bachye that goes, “the faith of the believer is not complete unless he knows the meaning and reason of his belief.” This quote generally applies to this story by questioning the fact that they never questioned. The people of this town feel so strongly about this tradition that you could almost say they believe in it. But they don’t know the reason or meaning of it. So how can they possibly feel so strongly about maintaining that tradition? …show more content…
Summers said, “thought we were going to have to get on without you.” I believe that this foreshadows the idea that the town and her family will now have to get on with life without her simply because the refuse to get rid of the tradition and blindly follow it. But I could also argue that the idea that certain members are afraid of not having the lottery because they are afraid of what might happen if they didn’t have the lottery is much worse. I mean, consider how terrible things must be if the people fear it getting worse, or even how brainwashed they must be to believe that murdering one person every year is a way of keeping them all in check. I can’t help but wonder what they are protecting and who is protecting it if none of them seem to understand the meaning for such a brutal tradition. Jackson builds suspense in “The Lottery” by relentlessly withholding explanation and does not reveal the true nature of the lottery until the first stone hits Tessie’s head. Not only do the people of the town not know the meaning of it, but neither do we. Not until the moment when a rock actually hits Tessie does Jackson show reveal the true nature of her story. By
First of all, they have changed the tradition from wood chips to paper slips, and it’s not the original box. So if the tradition is so old that such accommodations need to be made, then maybe it’s too old. Especially if the people performing it don’t know why they are doing it, because that would mean they were blindly following the tradition. Ritual murder such as this seems not only morally unsound, but also unnecessary. The worst part is that the lottery represents any action, behavior, or idea that is passed down from one generation to the next that’s accepted and followed unquestioningly, no matter how illogical, bizarre, or cruel. The people of the town are technically murderers, yet they seem to feel no remorse, no guilt. This extreme story is just proof of how out of hand things can get if people never question or critically address tradition but rather follow it blindly. There is this quote by Rabbi Bachye that goes, “the faith of the believer is not complete unless he knows the meaning and reason of his belief.” This quote generally applies to this story by questioning the fact that they never questioned. The people of this town feel so strongly about this tradition that you could almost say they believe in it. But they don’t know the reason or meaning of it. So how can they possibly feel so strongly about maintaining that tradition? …show more content…
Summers said, “thought we were going to have to get on without you.” I believe that this foreshadows the idea that the town and her family will now have to get on with life without her simply because the refuse to get rid of the tradition and blindly follow it. But I could also argue that the idea that certain members are afraid of not having the lottery because they are afraid of what might happen if they didn’t have the lottery is much worse. I mean, consider how terrible things must be if the people fear it getting worse, or even how brainwashed they must be to believe that murdering one person every year is a way of keeping them all in check. I can’t help but wonder what they are protecting and who is protecting it if none of them seem to understand the meaning for such a brutal tradition. Jackson builds suspense in “The Lottery” by relentlessly withholding explanation and does not reveal the true nature of the lottery until the first stone hits Tessie’s head. Not only do the people of the town not know the meaning of it, but neither do we. Not until the moment when a rock actually hits Tessie does Jackson show reveal the true nature of her story. By