Shirley Jackson Superstition

“Hold your breath as you pass the graveyard, then the people won’t come back and kill”. If you see a black cat, you’ll have bad luck for five years.” What do these all have in common? They are both negative superstitions. Do you believe in them? Do you follow them and their rules? Are they an important part of your life? How far do you go just to believe in them? For similar reasons, people do strange acts just to follow superstitions in the short story, The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. In the story, villages conduct lotteries that determine who will be stoned to death. This year, Bill Hutchinson’s family was chosen in the first round. After Tessie Hutchinson, the wife of Bill, tries to rebel, the lottery continues on to its second round, where …show more content…
This is shown on page 53, lines 266-269. Mrs. Adams and Old Man Warner were having a conversation. “ ‘Some places have already quit lotteries,’ Mrs. Adams said. ‘Nothing but trouble in that,” Old Man Warner said stoutly.” In this part of the story, Mrs. Adams was chatting gossip that other villages have quit the lottery. However, Old Man Warner discouraged this and argues that nothing good comes out of that. Mrs. Adams was almost supporting the idea that this village should also quit the lottery, but Old Man Warner stubbornly said that this idea is outrageous. Old Man Warner, who is stubborn and unbinding strongly believes that they must follow the rule of the lottery and continue to conduct it. He is unwilling to change and is blind to try to reason with. Next, on page 52, lines #263-264, Old Man Warner says, “There’s always been a lottery.” This indicates that since the lottery has been conducted before even Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town was born, then the people of the town are unwilling to break their tradition. The people are stubborn and close minded to give up something that has been conducted for so long. The villagers conduct this violent lottery to keep to the