The Ritual In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

The short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a fictional story set in a small town in New England. As identified in the story, the members of the small town usually observe an annual ritual recognized as the lottery. This is similar to other towns around it that also follow the ritual. In the beginning of the story, the practice seems innocent and fascinating as the members of the community prepare themselves for its beginning of the lottery. At one point, the people even make jokes as seen where Mrs. Hutchinson is late for the ritual, as she had forgotten. However, it is soon revealed that the ritual is a means of the villagers randomly killing one of their own by random selection of the lottery. Clearly, in “The Lottery”, Jackson portrays

two main themes including tradition and betrayal.
One of the main themes in Jackson’s “The Lottery” is tradition. Jackson expresses tradition as the main theme throughout the story. For instance he stated, “The people had done it so many times that they only half listened to the directions; most of them were quiet, wetting their lips, not looking around.” (966). In relation to the theme, the “Old Man Warner” is a symbol of tradition. Throughout the story, he grieves on the declining traditional values of the new generation. As a matter of fact this is evident in his statement about them when he says, “Pack of crazy fools listening to the young folks, nothing’s good enough for them,” (271) indicating that he thinks the lottery is a good idea simply because it is tradition. In addition, Mister Warner lasted through seventy-seven lotteries in which tradition was supported with hypothetical circumstances. He could not understand the younger generation’s lack of traditionalism (271). Equally important it is evident that the village lottery is a strange practice that the members of the community have chosen to follow without so much as asking why it is enforced (Bailey 38). The author begins by describing the manner in which members of the community are gathering up in the town square. Even by the description of the day, it seems that the event that the people are attending is one of great importance and will lead to significant joy spread through the society. As other villages also follow the ritual, it seems appealing to the community members to ensure that they do not depart from the traditions that they found. Foremost, after the children are mentioned to be gathering stones that the ritual’s true intentions are presented. It seems that the tradition may be one that is ridiculous and has little or no value added to the members of the community. Overall, the main theme is how traditions that lose their meaning due to human forgetfulness can cause dreadful consequences to occur.
The second main theme is betrayal, which people hate changes because human nature is constant.

It is evident that the ritual is strange when Tessie Hutchinson is introduced to the readers. Unlike the rest of the community, Tessie is seen to be different from the rest. Where as the rest of the family were present at the town square and already prepared for the ritual to commence, she is busy doing the dishes at her home (Jackson 2). Similarly, she had forgotten that the ritual was supposed to take place on that given day. This clearly characterizes Tessie from the rest of the crowd. In fact, may be a sign that she may threaten the practice of the ritual in the community. Furthermore, her threat to the ritual is confirmed when she voices her opinions when her husband Bill draws the marked paper. However, none of the members of the community listen to her statements. She identifies that the lottery is not fair, but when the villagers ignore her, she is stoned to death (Jackson 7). Together with this statement, “Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box,”(269). This statement clearly shows the villagers’ dislike for change. Even though “the black box grew shabbier each year,”( 269) the people decisively held to tradition. Clearly, although the lottery may be a corrupt act and disloyalty, it is supported by tradition and the peoples’ unwillingness to any disagreement in their typical

lives.

Ultimately, the use of themes and symbolism in “The Lottery” is very evident, the author connects the truth of the lottery through names, objects and the setting .In my opinion, this story remains relevant in our society today because the symbols in the story were never fully explained. The story itself symbolizes tradition, unquestioned traditions that exist not just in the society of the Lottery. Generally speaking, the fact that Mr. Hutchinson went from joking with his wife, to killing her in a short period of time shows how fast people change and can have a change of heart. Tessie’s motivation for speaking out on the ritual may vary as previously the villagers had identified that other villages around them had stopped following the ritual altogether. In this regard, the facilitators of the ritual, including Mr. Summers and Old Man Warner are seen to strongly disagree against stopping the ritual. He believes that stopping the lottery may lead to backward ways where members will be forced to engage in practices such as hunting and gathering for their food. On the other hand, Mr. Summers is a married man, but does not have a child and is fully responsible for conducting the ritual. It is evident that his leadership is unquestioned and none of the villagers challenge him. In this regard, the lottery seems to be a form of cruel practice forced onto the people. In addition, this may also be yet another reason why Tessie chose to speak out. That being said Tessie in any case, a stone thrown directly to her head silenced her opinions. Ultimately, this essay focuses on the plot as an essential factor in portraying the silliness and unfairness of the village ritual.