The Lottery Linking Detrimental Tradition Analysis

Improved Essays
Linking Detrimental Traditions to The Lottery
Influential, award-winning author Shirley Jackson depicts a dystopian society in her world-renowned short story “The Lottery”. Jackson irrefutably illustrates how society can follow antiquated traditions to their detriment; consequently, empowering readers to form cogent connections to equivalently destructive traditions. Calamitous practices are present in multifarious countries in contemporary society: the tradition of female genital mutilation, child brides, and the stoning of women for adultery connect with the issues within the text.
A multitude of communities around the world practice a procedure constructed to demolish sexual pleasure: female genital mutilation. This praxis entails either

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The Danger of Tradition Imagine doing something over and over again, but there does not appear to be a true purpose behind it. A person does something just because his ancestors did it before him, but the reason why has been lost. In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “Mending Wall” by Robert Frost, they reveal the idea of following a certain tradition, but the characters do not really need the tradition anymore. In “The Lottery,” Jackson writes about a town coming together right before the harvest, and they have a lottery.…

    • 972 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Lottery: Scapegoating and Maintaining Homogeneousness How a person becomes pauperized by society and customs, this is the example given by Shirley Jackson. The title “The Lottery” gives you some signs of winning, but how a whole story executes and takes place is shocking. Shocking in the sense, it shouldn’t have a meaning to win the lottery. This story takes place due to false belief and tradition.…

    • 540 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery,” Tessie Hutchinson gets stoned to death, by her friends and family in the annual lottery of the village. Throughout the day emotions ran high and changed significantly. The future of every family relied on a single piece of paper with a solid black blotch, which left the small village on edge. After all the families were accounted for the lottery began, and lives were about to change for the worst. The Hutchinson’s were the unfortunate family of this particular year.…

    • 757 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Tradition plays a significant role in ones life. It provides a sense of belonging, faithfulness, and could strengthen ones values. But what happens when one blindly follows outdated traditions and laws that can hinder one and contribute to disastrous consequences? The short story and movie of “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson both depict the dark outcome that follows when people are reluctant to reject old ideas and practices. However, the 1996 made-for-TV movie of “The Lottery” based on the short story is more effective in communicating Jackson’s argument about the danger of clinging to outdated tradition, laws, and the violent nature of humanity as she uses a diverse range of rhetorical choices to unfold the true intention of the mysterious…

    • 1008 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Nobody likes to follow the rules, but following them too blindly can detrimental. Too bad the citizens in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron” can’t seem to realize this. In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, an old village holds an annual ritualistic “lottery” that takes place to limit the population size by means of stoning the “lucky winner” to death. Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron” is satirical dystopian short story set in a futuristic society where its citizens are forced to wear handicaps that make them “equal” intellectually and physically. Both of these short stories seek to express a deeper meaning: societies where the citizens are too blinded by the order are never good.…

    • 1505 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, a seemingly ordinary village conducts a traditional lottery where the “winner” is stoned to death. While the events that take place in this story are fictional, Jackson uses the events to showcase the dangers of the preservation of certain traditions. Jackson seemingly uses ordinary details about the setting and the townspeople to characterize her theme that although society claims to be civilized, and may appear…

    • 1112 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The story symbolizes tradition, unquestioned traditions that exist not just in the society of the Lottery. The Lottery suggests collective mentality, despite Mr. and Mrs. Hutchinson being married he participates in the stoning of his wife, as do her children and friends. When a group is set in a tradition, people lose their individuality and may succumb to peer pressure. The fact that Mr. Hutchinson and her friends in the town can go from being neighbors and casual with each other one moment, to stoning her the next, show how quickly people can have a change of heart. The heavy emphasis on religious traditions and symbols make Shirley Jacksons the Lottery a dark and mysterious short story that leaves a lasting impression on the…

    • 962 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Malala Yousafzai, according to her biography on Biography.com, born July 12, 1997, in Mingora, Pakistan, became an advocate for girls’ education as a young girl, after the Taliban began attacking girls’ schools in her county in 2008. When she was 14, the Taliban issued a death threat against her. Her and her family initially felt that the fundamentalist group would not actually harm a child.…

    • 1488 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Shirley Jackson is the author of the short story called “The Lottery.” When reading this story, the reader could possibly believe that they are able to foresee the ending. “The Lottery” takes place in a small town, with a population of about three hundred people, on June 27 at ten in the morning. Jackson provides the reader with visuals that range from the town gathering and getting ready for the lottery to the town kids playing outside and collecting rocks. The importance of this lottery is that is not what it comes off to be, instead it is an act of sacrifice that is believed to be important in order to keep society stable.…

    • 1112 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Set in 1948 and published in The New Yorker, the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson describes an annual ritual, in a small village that leads to death for an unlucky winner. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” follows the genre conventions of a classic dystopian short story through the use of symbolism and connection between specific themes from the story to many common, yet profound and complex characteristics of dystopian literature in order to implicitly and thoughtfully convince the audience to protest against the dehumanization of society and random, pointless killings as well as become aware of the government. In “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson uses symbolism to show the dehumanization of the villagers. Shirley Jackson introduces the story to the audience with a warm and pleasant approach to suggest that the lottery is just another typical annual celebration, where the winner will obtain valuable prizes.…

    • 1192 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” depicts a village tradition which ends with one of the villagers being chased down and stoned by her friends, family, and neighbors. Such an outrageous and violent ritual must have strong reasoning behind it; however, none of the villagers really know why they do it. The lottery is a tradition that has been going on for years and is generally accepted. Shirley Jackson uses generational conflict in “The Lottery” to show that following tradition can cause motivation to be blinded.6 The loss of traditions over the years demonstrates how following tradition can lead to blinded motivation. The ritual once involved many traditions including, “a recital of some sort, performed by the official of the lottery” (Jackson…

    • 755 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The Lottery”- Following Age Old Tradition People everywhere live their lives based on tradition. These can be simple, from certain recipes to the way children are raised. However traditions can change overtime. “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson follows one such tradition. One that with time, loses aspects and meaning.…

    • 1335 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” we read about a fictional small town which observes other communities both small and larger, throughout a contemporary America. Throughout this story we learn about a ritual which is known as “the lottery.” Throughout this paper I’ll be discussing the climax, main conflict and how this story relates to ‘The Hook’ in a scary and suspenseful way but first starting off with a short summary of the story. In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” a classic American short story with a shocking twist ending as well as its insightful interpretation on cultural traditions.…

    • 863 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    How much longer must ignorance and pointless violence continue before we will start to change? The answer to this question may appear simple and in Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery” the satire is obvious. By using literary criticisms readers can evaluate more in depth what the story is actually trying convey. Two major literary criticisms that will discussed in detail are Psychological Theory and Historical Criticism and New Historicism. Psychological Theory basically deals with the psychological aspect or the mindset of a person.…

    • 1987 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Feministic Criticism Traditions have woven their way through society for generations whether it be simple family practice during the holidays, or cultural custom that have been passed down through centuries. Shirley Jackson is able to convey deeper meaning through the illustration of a corrupt tradition. Understood through the feminist view, both Gayle Whittier and Fritz Oehlschlaeger emphasize misogyny and the unfair treatment of women within the short story “The Lottery.” The patriarchal society is pronounced in the very first few paragraphs of the story. Right away, it is shown that the young boys playing ignore the call of their mother, but return immediately and without question to the stern demand of their father.…

    • 1158 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays