As I was contemplating these questions, I began to think about examples of conformity that I had seen or read about. One text that jumped to mind was Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”. This short story takes place in an unnamed, small rural town. All of the townspeople, including men, women and children of all ages, are heading towards the town square to participate in a yearly lottery. All of them are joking and gossiping and seem to be generally good people. The eldest male of each family pulls a scrap of paper from a box, and if you are the one who is unlucky enough to pull the single scrap of paper that has a black dot on it, your immediate family pulls again, and the one that pulls the black dotted paper this time is stoned to death by all of his or her fellow community members in the belief that this sacrifice will lead to a strong harvest. …show more content…
The whole town commits this atrocity, with the knowledge that next year, it could very well be themselves being stoned to death. Something that struck me about this story was the following passage, in which the omniscient narrator discusses how this lottery used to be run, alluding to how this lottery has evolved over time: at one time, some people remembered, there had been a recital of some sort, performed by the official of the lottery, a perfunctory, tuneless chant that had been rattled off duly each year; some people believed that the official of the lottery used to stand just so when he said or sang it, others believed that he was supposed to walk among the people years ago, this part of the ritual had been allowed to lapse. There had been, also, a ritual salute, which the official of the lottery had had to use in addressing each person who came up to draw from the box (Jackson
Tradition is a central theme in Shirley Jackon's short story The Lottery. Images such as the black box and characters such as Old Man Warner, Mrs. Adams, and Mrs. Hutchinson display to the reader not only the tenacity with which the townspeople cling to the tradition of the lottery, but also the wavering support of it by others. In just a few pages, Jackson manages to examine the sometimes long forgotten purpose of rituals, as well as the inevitable questioning of the necessity for such customs.
The Lottery, a short story by the nonconformist author Shirley Jackson, represents communities, America, the world, and conformist society as a whole by using setting and most importantly symbolism with her inventive, cryptic writing style. It was written in 1948, roughly three years after the liberation of a World War II concentration camp Auschwitz. Even today, some people deny that the Holocaust ever happened. Jackson shows through the setting of the story, a small, close knit town, that even though a population can ignore evil, it is still prevalent in society (for example: the Harlem Riots; the terrorist attacks on September 11; the beating of Rodney King.)
One main theme in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is tradition nonetheless. Although tradition is most commonly thought to be somewhat of a social glue that holds families and communities together, Shirley Jackson reveals a whole new side consisting of the dangers following traditional practices. The lottery is normalized as being an early summer ritual that proves to be consistent and promising in a plentiful harvest, as mentioned by Old Man Warner. The real purpose of the lottery is never fully explained, but it is still conducted every year without suggestion of discontinuation. There proves to be a pattern of tendency to be trapped by tradition.
In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” the theme of the story is dramatically illustrated by Jackson’s unique tone. Once a year the villagers gather together in the central square for the lottery. The villagers await the arrival of Mr. Summers and the black box. Within the black box are folded slips of paper, one piece having a black dot on it. All the villagers then draw a piece of paper out of the box. Whoever gets the paper with the black dot wins. Tessie Hutchinson wins the lottery! Everyone then closes in on her and stones her to death. Tessie Hutchinson believes it is not fair because she was picked. The villagers do not know why the lottery continues to exist. All they know is that it is a tradition they are not willing to abandon. In “The Lottery,” Jackson portrays three main themes including tradition, treason, and violence.
Shirley Jackson?s insights and observations about society are reflected in her shocking and disturbing short story The Lottery. Jackson reveals two general attitudes in this story: first is the shocking tendency for societies to select a scapegoat and second is the idea that communities are victims of social tradition and rituals.
Tradition is huge in small towns and families and allows for unity through shared values, stories, and goals from one generation to the next. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” carries that theme of tradition. The story follows a small town that performs the tradition of holding an annual lottery in which the winner gets stoned to death. It (tradition) is valued amongst human societies around the world, but the refusal of the villagers in “The Lottery” to let go of a terrifying long-lasting tradition suggests the negative consequences of blindly following these traditions such as violence and hypocrisy.
In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, tradition is seen as very high and something to be respected not to be messed with. Although, the lottery has been removed from other towns, the village where the story is set in still continues to participate in the lottery. It is almost as if the other towns realized the lack of humanity in the tradition. However, the village still continues with the lottery even though the majority of the ritual has been lost or changed. The oldest man in the village complains about how the lottery is not what it used to be. There are hidden messages in “The Lottery” that reflects today’s society that the author wants to make apparent and change, such as, the danger of blindly following without any knowledge, the randomness
Everyone experiences social conformity at some point during their life. “Conformity is the type of social influence involving a change in belief or behavior in order to fit in with a group” (McLeod). You can experience social conformity in multiple ways including; real or imagined pressures from a group of people. Real social conformity is the physical existence of people vs. imagined social conformity is pressure and/or expectations you feel. In William Faulkner’s short story, A Rose for Emily, and in Shirley Jackson’s short story, The Lottery, social conformity is a majority theme.
Yearly rituals are accepted by most people and the reasons behind the celebrations are unknown to most people. Americans practice different annual traditions such as Fourth of July, Easter egg hunt, Halloween, Veterans Day and more. Likewise for Shirley Jackson, a wife, mother, and author of six novels, two memoirs, and a collection of short stories including “The Lottery.” Jackson’s short twisted story, “The Lottery,” portrays a ritual almost as old as the town itself, especially for the fact that there’s no remembrance from the villagers or the oldest man, Old Man Warner, the real reason for the ceremony. Jackson’s story describes a brutal custom in a small village that punishes the winner of the lottery; however, Jackson uses irony, characters and symbolism to support her story. Jackson’s purpose in The Lottery is to demonstrate that conformity can be helpful in some situations but damages those who choose not to conform.
As the story of “The Lottery” comes to an end, readers are left with a shocking reaction. Shirley Jackson’s Characters continuously participate in a lottery, where the reasoning for it has been forgotten. Throughout Shirley Jacksons Story of “The Lottery” readers can see how conformity can bring out the evilness in human nature, by characters continuing a tradition regardless of immorality.
In Shirley Jackson’s "The Lottery," what appears to be an ordinary day in a small town takes an evil turn when a woman is stoned to death after "winning" the town lottery. The lottery in this story reflects an old tradition of sacrificing a scapegoat in order to encourage the growth of crops. But this story is not about the past, for through the actions of the town, Jackson shows us many of the social ills that exist in our own lives.
In the early years of Canada, people did not consider women to be people at all, and conformed to the idea of tradition. Tradition may have been made for a reason, but as people evolve and changes are made, some traditions must not be kept. In the fictional tale of “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson uses elements of both conformity and alienation in the characters to show the relevance of deciding to obey tradition; compared to those who show confidence in the belief that some traditions should be stopped, and with good reason.
The characters in a short story are vital to understanding everything that the author has put into her work. Most of Shirley Jackson’s characters in “The Lottery” adapt as the story goes on, revealing their true opinions and behaviors. Her characters are also true to life, which establishes realism in her stories. Tess, Old Man Warner, and the women of this story all provide outlooks and opinions that shape “The Lottery” into the constructive story it is.
Everyone has their own way of solving problems; however, ritual is a form that people doing one thing in the same way. It defines as “the prescribed form of conducting a formal secular ceremony.” However if the meaning of ritual is mistaken, the consequence could be unpredictable." The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson gives us a lecture about a tortuous ritual. The story takes place in a small village with 300 citizens, they gather for a yearly lottery which everyone should participate. The story leads to a horrific ending by people forgetting the concept of ritual.
“The world never needed another hero; it needed ordinary people who could do extraordinary things,” said Oskar Schindler. Oskar Schindler was a humanitarian man who saved the lives of many Jews from the Holocaust in the year 1945. Shortly after he saved all of the Jews' lives, he and his wife Emilie migrated to Argentina. Later, Schindler divorced his wife and moved back to Germany alone to live by himself until he died of unknown causes in 1974. Oskar Schindler's heroic actions had a great impact on the Holocaust by starting the Emilia factory, opening a branch off of the Plaszow Concentration camp, and saving over 1200 Jewish lives.