Blindly Following Tradition In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

In the short story, “The Lottery,” the author Shirley Jackson describes an ancient ritual practiced by the town of roughly 300 people, one of whom will get stoned to death. The initial descriptive scenes from the short story are filled with innocence and happiness, but as the story progresses the scenes soon becomes shady and horrid. The unmistakable themes in the short story, “The Lottery” is the danger of blindly following tradition, the randomness of persecution, turning on other family members, and sexism. Jackson’s story initially describes the villagers gathering around together in the square on June 27. It was a bright and sunny day, and children run around gathering stones. As the minutes pass by, parents start arriving and begin to call their children. Mr. Summers, who officiates all the big events, calls each head of the household to select a piece of paper. It is found out Bill Hutchinson’s family is on the paper, and Tessie, the wife of Bill immediately starts complaining. One can immediately sense that this is not the same

This is by no means to say that Tessie is a harmless and innocent person, since she also participated in the tradition by choice. Before the Hutchinson’s family was chosen, she was urging her husband to pick a slip, and is chatting with the villagers as if nothing was wrong. When the Hutchinson’s family is chosen, Tessie tries to throw her own flesh and blood into the mix by mentioning Eva, her married daughter, to increase her chances of not picking the slip that is marked. Tessie knows Eva can only draw with her husbands’ family, yet claims she should be a part of the drawing anyway. The villagers know nothing about the origin of the lottery, but are willing to sacrifice family and friends to keep their tradition alive and fulfill their evil ambition to slay others