Shirley Jackson has made tradition not the central but certainly a prevalent theme in this short story written originally for the New Yorker in 1948. While it is easy to see why some traditions are easy to carry on such as holidays and special occasions like anniversaries or birthdays; as a reader you struggle with why, this particular barbaric tradition has been preserved and even institutionalized by the villagers.

The lottery is held the same time every year on June 27. While the same date, may seem a small thing and relatively benign, this particular date does have significance to the lottery and the tradition. As we learn the date is important to the season of harvesting crops. Old man Warner ties this thread for us when he talks of days gone by where the "saying" was "Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon". Were the timing of the lottery mid winter, say in January, the same reference could not be

drawn, as crops lay dormant in the winter. Further, the date is stressed as being "the simple order of things" among the world. If the lottery happened on a different day each year, one would not consider order something important or worth thinking of; it would happen when it happened. The fact that the date is the same each year tells the villagers that there must be some good coming from having things orderly; therefore, they should work towards order in other areas of their life as well.

In conclusion, I think it is safe to draw a few conclusions from Shirley's writing. We learn that sometimes traditions no matter how they get started are kept going most times without thinking about why. It is possible there is a thin veil between the mindless obedience to the tradition of the lottery just as the German soldiers claim that orders were the basis for their obedience. This line of thinking says "If you don't follow the tradition you may be next or an outcast". Making sense of the senseless horror is near impossible! How can a community ban together to do something so appalling and horrific? Maybe, the villagers are thought to be people outside of who we are, however, countless thousands of Japanese Americans were encamped after the bombing of Pearl Harbor based on the premise they might "be" something dangerous. It may be a comforting thought to think of ourselves as something different than the villagers are; however, are we always so different than the villager who threw the first stone to hurry up and get to lunch?

A third strand to this theme of tradition is rather ironic in nature. The event is seen as lending civility

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Approximate Word count = 1111
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)