Tradition In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

Throughout history, tradition has played a major role in everyday life. Tradition is often thought of as a social glue that holds families and communities together, but should society participate in a recurring tradition just so it can be preserved and not question the moral aspect of the tradition? In the short story “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson is able to illustrate citizens of a village to blindly participate in a barbaric tradition that turns civilized civilians into rabid animals just by a slip of paper with a black dot on it. The opening paragraph informs the reader that not only does this village participate in this unhuman ritual, but many other villages blindly conduct the same tradition every year in the month of June, some villages …show more content…
The weather is described as being “clear and sunny” with “fresh warmth of a full summer day,” thus being a symbol that tricks the reader into a horrific unknowing state of what the tradition truly is. Shirley Jackson traps the reader into believing that the lottery is something look upon as wonderful due to the atmosphere and where the lottery takes place. The lottery is held in the same place as many other traditions that are celebrated annual each year such as the square-dances, teenage club, and the Halloween program, traditions that are lookup as happy and nonviolent. This clearly shows how easily manipulated each generation is to the tradition of the lottery because of such joyous occasions that happen in the same place and how the villagers are unconcerned or suspicious in the beginning of the story as nothing devastating is going to take place. The children play with their rock piles, the women gossip, and the men talk about rain, taxes, and tractors in a peaceful manner as if it is just another day. The setting of the village and the calmness of each civilian within the village symbolizes the danger of how the people are blindly obliged the repetitive monotony of unquestioned