In her short story The Lottery, Shirley Jackson uses a towns rituals and its normal small town life to demonstrate how any person has the capacity to be violent and dangerous when following mindless traditions.
by
pickserena (student)
Serena Pick
English 1302 – 302
Essay #1: Fiction
Erin Hill
07 June 2012
Winning?
“The less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it.”
− Mark Twain
Every year in southern India more than 200 babies are tossed from a 50 foot concrete temple onto a cloth held below while crowds sing and dance. This 500 year old ritual is believed to make the child stronger and bring them good luck (vagabonish.com). Hazing rituals have been firmly entrenched in American colleges for over a century. Anti-hazing laws exist in forty-four states, yet tragically the lives of many young promising students are still damaged and destroyed in the name of tradition (StopHazing.org). Bizarre and irrational rituals challenge the morale of cultures all over the world. Many followed traditions are harmless, such as turkey on Thanksgiving or a quinceanera rite of passage, but others can be dangerous when followed blindly. Society universally rationalizes risky tradition like a superstition – afraid if the practice ceases, consequence may follow. In her short story “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson uses a town’s rituals and its normal small town life to demonstrate how any person has the capacity to be violent and dangerous when following mindless traditions.
Shirley Jackson’s use of symbolism gives more than a casual nod to religion. Old Man Warner quotes “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon” (Jackson par. 32). The saying means one will sacrifice for the good of all, much like Christ dying for the world’s sins. Acceptance of the tradition to sacrifice a human being is supported by the three-legged stool representing the Holy trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The three-legged stool supports the infamous black box. Determining the mortal fate of one unlucky winner, the box is an inanimate manifestation of Death. Cloaked in black, its purpose is to cause a grim finale. Though deteriorating and falling apart “no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box” (Jackson par. 5). Its color and condition illustrate how highly regarded the tradition is, and perhaps fear of disturbing its legacy. Jackson alludes to the Gospel of St. John when Jesus frees an adulterous woman. Jesus proclaims to the condemning crowd “He who is without sin, cast the first stone” (John 8:7), and every person left the crowd one by one. Contrastingly, this village acts together reinforcing the point that the antagonist is not one person, but the society collectively.
