The Struggle for Change
Traditions are difficult to be in conflict with because they are so deeply rooted into our history and daily lives. Shirley Jackson analyzes in her short story “The Lottery” that people will unquestionably follow traditions, them being good or bad. The people in “The Lottery” seem like a perfectly normal community until readers find out about their unethical costumes. We can conclude that it is difficult for the people of “The Lottery” to change or abolish their taboo tradition because of the anonymity in the victim's execution, bigoted devotees in their community are respected, and the lottery does not affect them if they are not chosen.
Because killing is a crime and seen as a sinful act, the people adapted their …show more content…
In “The Lottery”, the people feel that their tradition should be kept alive and intact, yet no one can actually give an exact reason to why they even perform the tradition. When the people tackle the question about why they still do the lottery they are shunned down by Old Man Warner. Old Man Warner worships the lottery, yet even he doesn't know the true reason why it exists. He states that there “[u]sed to be a saying about ‘Lottery in June, Corn be heavy soon,” (99) and that “There’s always been a lottery,”(99). The words, ‘used to be a saying’ clearly interprets that he is unsure if what he is saying is factual or myth. In other words his argument is that the practice is valid because its very existence is reason enough. It is evidential that his way of thinking is poisoning the way the people in the community think. Old Man Warren’s way of thinking is very dangerous and influential to the people and is one reason that is keeping the tradition intact even though he is only one person with biased thinking in a community of …show more content…
Mrs. Delacroix mentions that it “[s]eems like there’s no time at all between lotteries any more,” (98) obviously depicting her apprehension towards the ritual. After it's revealed that the Hutchinson family has been chosen she becomes apathetic concerning the lottery and the victim. Jackson writes, “Mrs. Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands and turned, to Mrs. Dunbar. ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘Hurry up.’” (102). Its evidential that Jackson portrays humans as apathetic towards other people's pain and problems. The people in “The Lottery” do not care about things that don’t affect them. When Mrs. Delacroix realizes that she is not going to be the sacrifice she quickly forgets the dilemma she was facing due to it not being her problem anymore. Since only one person is affected by the lottery, the people gain the mentality of ‘every man for himself’. Therefore, the conflict within having only one person suffer at a time, prevents the rest of the community from changing their twisted ways. As a result they can’t place themselves in the victim's point of
Traditions are difficult to be in conflict with because they are so deeply rooted into our history and daily lives. Shirley Jackson analyzes in her short story “The Lottery” that people will unquestionably follow traditions, them being good or bad. The people in “The Lottery” seem like a perfectly normal community until readers find out about their unethical costumes. We can conclude that it is difficult for the people of “The Lottery” to change or abolish their taboo tradition because of the anonymity in the victim's execution, bigoted devotees in their community are respected, and the lottery does not affect them if they are not chosen.
Because killing is a crime and seen as a sinful act, the people adapted their …show more content…
In “The Lottery”, the people feel that their tradition should be kept alive and intact, yet no one can actually give an exact reason to why they even perform the tradition. When the people tackle the question about why they still do the lottery they are shunned down by Old Man Warner. Old Man Warner worships the lottery, yet even he doesn't know the true reason why it exists. He states that there “[u]sed to be a saying about ‘Lottery in June, Corn be heavy soon,” (99) and that “There’s always been a lottery,”(99). The words, ‘used to be a saying’ clearly interprets that he is unsure if what he is saying is factual or myth. In other words his argument is that the practice is valid because its very existence is reason enough. It is evidential that his way of thinking is poisoning the way the people in the community think. Old Man Warren’s way of thinking is very dangerous and influential to the people and is one reason that is keeping the tradition intact even though he is only one person with biased thinking in a community of …show more content…
Mrs. Delacroix mentions that it “[s]eems like there’s no time at all between lotteries any more,” (98) obviously depicting her apprehension towards the ritual. After it's revealed that the Hutchinson family has been chosen she becomes apathetic concerning the lottery and the victim. Jackson writes, “Mrs. Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands and turned, to Mrs. Dunbar. ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘Hurry up.’” (102). Its evidential that Jackson portrays humans as apathetic towards other people's pain and problems. The people in “The Lottery” do not care about things that don’t affect them. When Mrs. Delacroix realizes that she is not going to be the sacrifice she quickly forgets the dilemma she was facing due to it not being her problem anymore. Since only one person is affected by the lottery, the people gain the mentality of ‘every man for himself’. Therefore, the conflict within having only one person suffer at a time, prevents the rest of the community from changing their twisted ways. As a result they can’t place themselves in the victim's point of