Tradition And Tradition In The Lottery, By Ralph Ellison

In “Battle Royal”, Ralph Ellison sets his story after the Reconstruction. In his story, the white, elite leaders of the time, invite the narrator to the hotel room to deliver graduation speech. However, before he can deliver his speech, the narrator becomes involved in a brutal box-match against the other workers. Similarly, in “The Lottery”, the village initially, seems calm. Yet, at the end, it is revealed that due to the long held tradition, a person, who has picked a paper with black dot would be stoned death as a form of sacrifice in order for the village to “prosper.” Both of the stories convey the importance of tradition. Along with tradition, arises the idea of conformity. Because human beings seek for comfort, they are prone …show more content…
Although not all cultures perform the tradition of blowing candles in their birthday, most cultures do. Then, why do they celebrate this? There must have been reason behind this act; however, most people are not aware of the reason behind it. Regardless, most people still follow this tradition. Similar to “Battle Royal,” Jackson, also portrays the effect of traditions and the traditions’ rituals in her short story, the Lottery. Although, the setting of the village and its people seem ordinary, initially, readers, later learn that behind this normality exists a dangerous ceremony, based solely upon a tradition. Jackson points out that “the lottery was conducted--as were the square dances, the teen club, the Halloween program” which suggests that the villagers conducted this lottery “ceremony” in the same way as other “normal” programs. (Jackson, 1) Just like how people do not question the reason behind the birthday candle, villagers in this story do not question the lottery ceremony either. The reason why most villagers stubbornly refuse to abandon the tradition of lottery is because they firmly believe in “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon” (Jackson 4), but if they were to abandon this culture then they believed that “[they would] all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns.” Since the lottery began for food and the survival of the village, it is hard for the villagers to discard this tradition since they fear they will not be able to survive without the lottery. Although, “the black box grew shabbier each year…it was no longer completely black but splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color, and in some places faded or stained” (Jackson 2). The faded color symbolizes that some villagers are losing the value towards this tradition, but one of the villager, Old Man Warner dismisses this idea stating that “Pack of crazy fools, listening to the young folks,