theme: Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery"

A detailed Summary of theme: Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery"

Analyzing Theme: "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson

Americans day after day live much of their lives following time-honored traditions that are passed down from one generation to another. From simple everyday cooking and raising children, to holidays and other family rituals, tradition plays a significant role on how they go by there everyday lives. In Shirley Jackson's short story, "The Lottery," the citizens of a small farming town follow one such tradition. A point is made regarding human nature in relation to tradition. The story begins on a beautiful summer afternoon. The town's citizens are eager, gathering in the town square in order to take part in the yearly lottery. With the story focused around one particular family, the Hutchinsons, who are so anxious to get it all over with until they find that one of their members is to participate in the lottery's closing festivities, Tessie. Of course unlike your typical lotteries, this is not one that you would want to win. The one chosen from the lottery is to underta!

ke a cruel and unusual death by stoning at the hands of their fellow townsmen for the sake that it may bring a fruitful crop for the coming harvest season. Ironically, many of the towns people have sugges

For many, change is a cause for ignorance. Most of us fear the idea of change. When one is faced to deal with change in their lives, one of their first reactions is disregard. In the story, reference is given to a black box that is used to house the names of those who participate in the lottery. A symbol of the lottery's ongoing legacy, the same box has been used for years. It was believed to be made from scraps of the original black box which fell apart through the course of its use. When the citizens are brought the idea that the box should be changed, the whole thing was let to pass. "Mr. Summers," the town's lottery official, "spoke frequently about making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much as tradition as was represented by the black box." (Jackson 422) This illustrates the people are blind to the idea of even tampering with their sacred box. They have grown with the tradition and find discomfort in the idea of change. "Every year, after the lott!

We turn to tradition as a source of happiness. The town turns to tradition as a source of survival not truly grasping consequences. Though their behavior appears to be rather ridiculous, their reasoning is valid. They cannot allow themselves to withdraw from the tradition because they do not know any other way. Can you imagine what life would be if there were no Christmas or Thanksgiving? For many cultures, tradition is the basis for their history. One example to this being the Hawaiian culture whose history was destroyed when they were forced to stop their ancient dances which told stories of their past. Adversely, tradition has played negative roles in society as well with the battle between the Muslims and Christians in many middle-eastern countries. Tradition plays many roles in today's society. Our goal should be to grasp the idea of what they really mean. We must not isolate ourselves to what we think we know, but instead allow ourselves to comprehen

Some common words found in the essay are:
Shirley Jackson's, Davy Hutchinson, Bobby Martin, Tessie Hutchinson, Christmas Thanksgiving, Jackson Americans, Muslims Christians, jackson 422, ARP THOMAS, black box, tradition plays, WORTH TX, idea change, it's practice, illustrates people, tradition source, box changed,

Approximate Word count = 1317
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous