Tradition In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

One of the most devastating and skillful aspects of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery" is that it consistently surpasses the readers’ expectations about what should happen next or even at all. At first glance, the reader is given a story title that seems quite natural, a sense of hope the expectation that someone is going to win something, perhaps a prize or some money. The first few paragraphs further confirm the sense of hope; it is a beautiful summer day, “the grass is green, the flowers are blooming, kids out of school are playing”, but then we start to see that something is twisted in this seemingly perfect village. We are then told by the narrator of “The Lottery" that the official of the lottery is doing a “civic" duty, which we come to

The village lottery culminates in a violent murder each year, whoever is selected will get stoned to death, a bizarre ritual that suggests how dangerous traditions can be when people follow them blindly. Before we know what kind of lottery they’re conducting, the villagers and their preparations seem harmless, children run about gathering stones in the town square, everyone is seemingly preoccupied with a funny-looking black box, and the lottery consists of little more than handmade slips of paper. Tradition is important to this small towns, a way to link families and generations. Jackson, however, pokes holes in the reverence that people have for tradition. She writes that “the villagers don’t know much about the lottery’s origin” but they try to preserve the tradition

Villagers persecute individuals randomly, and the victim is guilty of no crime other than being down on their lick and having their name drawn from a box. The foolish ritual of the lottery is designed so that all villagers have the same chance of becoming the victim even children are at risk of being stoned to death. Each year, a new person is chosen and killed, no family is safe. What makes “The Lottery” so chilling is the swiftness with which the villagers turn against the victim. It could be their best friend of a lifetime or their own sister and due to traditions, they must get stoned. The instant that Tessie Hutchinson chooses the marked slip of paper, she loses her identity as a popular housewife, no one cares for her life any longer. Her friends and family participate in the killing with as much enthusiasm as everyone else. Tessie essentially becomes invisible to them in their bloodlust. Although she has done nothing wrong, and committed no crime. Her innocence does not matter. She has drawn the marked paper she has herself become marked and per the twisted logic of the lottery, she therefore must die by