Conformity In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

Oppression can come in almost any form at any given moment whole purpose is to gain control over a group of people or even larger population. In many cases, oppression’s existence put many people’s mind in a state of fear and distress. Unsurprisingly, there were also numerous of casualties that cropped up due to the existence of conformity. Shirley Jackson depicted an example of how conformity has engulfed villagers’ judgement in “The Lottery” by showing how a group coercing them to perform a ritual that determine their lives and deaths. Conformity compels people to believe that they have to keep the culture perpetuated by any mean even if they were to forget the oblivious truth that they are hurting each other. “The Lottery” also pictures

a consequence of when people refuse see reality and irrationally comply with the group’s will in which it brought them fears and deaths. Conformity is not always an acceptable response to deal with everyday problem as it could essentially be the root in creating more oppression. Not only people are feared and depressed, but they are also indirectly abandoning their own sense of morality in being able to see what is right.
People always want to be belong in a community and that is ultimately why most would chose to conform but often times find themselves unwittingly forced to live by the group’s cultures. Similar to the village in “The Lottery”, everyone has to organize a lottery ritual each and every year. However, the villagers were very apparent about their apathy toward the lottery when “Mr. Summers began talking again about a new box, but every year the subject was allowed to fade off without anything’s being done”(1). People were undoubtedly avoiding the lottery topic because they truly do not want to be a part of such a cruel and violent ritual. However, it is also not possible for them to be completely detached from this ritual seeing that Mr. Summers would continuously question “anybody ain’t here”(3) and would also make “wifes draws for her husband”(3) if they are are happened to be absent. Furthermore, Mr. Summers also conspicuously questions “don’t you have a grown boy to do it for you”(3) as a sign to Janey everyone must participating. The lottery evidently is not a choice for whether or not the villager wanted to be part of, but it is more of a constrained tradition where everyone cannot avoid participating.
Furthermore, many villagers expressed their discomfort to the lottery ceremony simply because they cannot refuse to conform.

The villagers’ tension and enmity toward the annual lottery were clearly shown when “they stood together, away from the pile of stones in the corner, and their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed”(1) as they are preparing for the lottery ceremony. Additionally, some even distinctively showed their terror toward the lottery as they “came awkwardly through the crowd”(3) and “turning [the slip] over and over nervously”(4) while the lottery was conducting. It is because most knew the absurd reason behind their annual lotteries, and they could hardly find any reasonable objective when being a part of the ritual other than not being left out. With this in mind, people would undoubtedly ponder on whether or not it is still a tolerable ritual to perm; thus they will sometime show their hesitance in continuing a ritual that may bring more harm than good to the entire

village.
In “The Lottery”, the villagers oddly almost never want to make changes to the tradition they have every year regardless of how unreasonable their traditions might be. Also, the image of “no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box”(1) figuratively paint up nothing more than fear and oppression that might have been the cause that suppressed villagers’ resolve to fight back. Additionally, being greater in numbers could ultimately also is another form of oppression, because small groups tend to live by the larger group’s set of rules which will eventually ended up being forced to follow the will of the larger group without being able to argue or resist.
Many of us may argue some people may born with a certain practices within their community, and “The Lottery” is just example of how villagers express their loyalty and live with their belief despite how huge and costly it may be.

This concept is only acceptable to a certain extend but “The Lottery” is an exceptional violent example as it also costs people lives. As one mentions “some places have already quit the lotteries”(4) shows others are also reluctant and desperate to dispose of this practice. Although it is true “The Lottery” can also be a symbol that defines everyone’s true selves and origins, forcing a belief on an individual meant nothing more than oppression; thus this is why it is important that people realize the differences between oppression and culture so that people will not stay silence and stand up for what is supposedly

right.
Conformity alone is not the problem, but the community in which other people choose to conform often have irregular practices and systems. Depends on what the practices are, they sometimes could be absurd and harmful. Similar to “The Lottery”, the village’s routine is picking out one person each year through drawing slips in a box has always been a forceful practice to the villagers who happened to live in the community. Despite that any individual must make themselves fit inside the group to gain acceptance, they should never betray their own belief in seeing what is right to deal with the problems and conflicts that may appear before them.