Ritual In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

The blind following of ritual in “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is shocking by the way the villagers participate in “The Lottery” without realizing what is actually happening, but no more so than the mindless rituals noticed by modern society. Although some villagers may ask questions about “The Lottery,” they all participate in it. They become unthinking members of a crowd, giving up their choice to do otherwise and sending Tessie Hutchinson to her death. I believe that society had become so used to violence, that they were numb to it and thought it was something they had to do. At first, the reader is given a title that makes the reader believe that someone is going to win something such as money or some kind of prize, although it is far

Otherwise the event is just confusing and uninteresting. If you have to ask ‘Why are we (they) doing this?’ the effect of the ritual is lost” (King). Changes have been made to the original ritual. The narrator states that, “The original paraphernalia for “The Lottery” had been lost long ago” (Jackson 290). The narrator also mentions that “because so much of the ritual had been forgotten or discarded, Mr. Summers had been successful in having slips of paper substituted for the chips of wood that had been used for generations” (Jackson 291). Warner has connection between “The Lottery” and work that is revealed by his response when told that other villages are considering doing away with “The Lottery:” “Pack of crazy fools . . . listening to young folks, nothing's good enough for them. Next thing you know, they'll be wanting to go back to living in caves, nobody work anymore, live that way for a while. Used to be a saying about ‘Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.’ First thing you know, we'd all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns. There's always been a lottery” (Jackson 293). This reference shows the villagers might believe that this tradition that they hold has some kind of luck for growing good crops. Basing tradition on some sort of superstition is actually common, especially in religious or

The issue with the town was that they had forgotten the actual meaning of the ritual that they performed every year and are blind by what is actually happening. The town only knew that it was performed every year, and had been for centuries. Jackson allows the view of stoning open to many readers. “The Lottery” is mixed with much irony such as leading the reader to believe someone will win a prize by the title, a sunny day suggesting a happy event will take place and when Old Man Warner hears that the north village is considering ending “The Lottery,” he says, "Next thing you know, they'll be wanting to go back to living in caves” (Jackson 293). Jackson shocked me as a reader with her irony and unexpected ending when the villagers grab the stones and start throwing them at Mrs. Hutchinson. After executing Mrs. Hutchinson by stoning, the villagers go home or go back to living their lives as if nothing happened. No one actually won anything from this lottery. The younger villagers begin to do this and question the validity of “The Lottery,” even pointing out that other towns nearby have already done away with it. The blind following of ritual in “The Lottery” is showing that people only make decisions based on what everyone else is doing. I believe