Traditions have been around for many years and come in varying forms from holiday traditions to family traditions. With traditions being around for so long it can often be hard to decipher why they started yet people still follow them even if they do not recognize the purpose anymore. “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson focuses on a social tradition that takes place every year in the middle of town. The community gathers to each draw a piece of paper from a black box and whichever family receives the black piece of paper has to re-enter each of their papers, including the black one, and draw again. The family member that draws the black paper the next time must be stoned to death. However, the “Mending Wall” by Robert Frost focuses more on a family
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The “Mending Wall” follows a yearly tradition between two neighbours about the wall that separates their yards. The neighbours meet at the wall yearly to walk alongside it to repair any part of the wall that may be crumbling. Frost uses a friendly and questioning tone to show the readers how little the narrator's neighbour knows about his tradition. For example, the narrator says, “Why do they make good neighbours? Isn’t it / Where there are cows? But here there are no cows. / Before I built a wall I’d ask to know / What I was walling in or walling out, / And to whom I was like to give offence. / Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, / That wants it down”(30-36). The tone shows how the man wants to understand why his good friend and neighbour keeps saying, “Good fences make good neighbours”(27). The narrator knows that they have a wall between them for no reason. He wants to understand why the wall must stay up since they have nothing to keep in or out. Unfortunately, his neighbour can not explain why he follows this tradition except for revealing, “He will not go behind his father’s saying, / And he likes having thought of it so well” (43-44). His neighbour responds to this when he asks his neighbour about his saying and the neighbour says his father taught him this. His response goes to show that traditions passed down through generations lose their meaning along the way just like the society traditions in “The Lottery.” People still follow the traditions because they represent a part of their ancestors valued thoughts at the time and they want to still respect their original
The “Mending Wall” follows a yearly tradition between two neighbours about the wall that separates their yards. The neighbours meet at the wall yearly to walk alongside it to repair any part of the wall that may be crumbling. Frost uses a friendly and questioning tone to show the readers how little the narrator's neighbour knows about his tradition. For example, the narrator says, “Why do they make good neighbours? Isn’t it / Where there are cows? But here there are no cows. / Before I built a wall I’d ask to know / What I was walling in or walling out, / And to whom I was like to give offence. / Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, / That wants it down”(30-36). The tone shows how the man wants to understand why his good friend and neighbour keeps saying, “Good fences make good neighbours”(27). The narrator knows that they have a wall between them for no reason. He wants to understand why the wall must stay up since they have nothing to keep in or out. Unfortunately, his neighbour can not explain why he follows this tradition except for revealing, “He will not go behind his father’s saying, / And he likes having thought of it so well” (43-44). His neighbour responds to this when he asks his neighbour about his saying and the neighbour says his father taught him this. His response goes to show that traditions passed down through generations lose their meaning along the way just like the society traditions in “The Lottery.” People still follow the traditions because they represent a part of their ancestors valued thoughts at the time and they want to still respect their original