Tradition In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

Everyone wants to win the lottery… but what if it was the lottery of death. When you win the lottery in the village, you get stoned to death. This is a tradition that is still performed every year in “The Lottery”. The story was written as a metaphor of how Shirley Jackson felt about traditions. In “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson’s overall tone was frustrated.

Traditions are passed down through generations. And in between generations, things are lost or forgotten. Traditions are long established beliefs and/or customs. For example, in “The Lottery” their tradition was to host a lottery every year and whoever won, got stoned to death. As the years passed by, some parts of the tradition were forgotten. On page 7, paragraph 4, Shirley Jackson wrote,

“Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones.” The quote shows how Shirley’s tone was frustrated because all the talk about traditions staying the same and then they forget everything except the part that includes the weapon used to kill, stones. The people are only focused on one part of the tradition and forgetting the rest. This is frustrating because people aren’t really performing the tradition correctly. And if they aren’t going to do it right, then why do it at all. The only real reason why people don’t want to change the tradition is because of Old Man Warner.
Behind a tradition there is always a person who wants to keep the tradition alive.

The new generation might find or call traditions old fashion. And the only reason why they do it is because of a family member that they highly respect. For example, in the story Old Man Warner is that person who wants to keep the tradition alive and the same. A quote is found on page 4, paragraphs 8 and 9. The author writes, “They do say”, Mr. Adams said to Old Man Warner, who stood next to him, “that over in the North village they’re talking of giving up the lottery”. Old Man Warner snorted. “Pack of crazy fools.” he said. “Listening to young folks, nothing’s good enough for them.” Old Man Warner is a symbol of the people who want things to be done exactly how they did it growing up. And if people don’t do things exactly the same, then people like Old Man Warner think that people who don’t do the things the same are crazy, insane, unrealistic, infatuated, and weird. The quote helps prove that Shirley’s tone is frustrated because people believe that people with different opinions are crazy and weird. And the reason why Shirley Jackson wrote the story was to express how she felt about traditions. And a tradition like in “The Lottery” should be changed and/or vanished, but people aren’t doing

anything.
If people allow traditions to continue, then they will continue. To keep a tradition going you need a group of people who tolerate or respect your customs and or beliefs. In “The Lottery” there were parts in the story where Mr. Summers suggested changing something minor about the tradition, which was to replace the box. The quote on page 1, paragraph 5, is says, “Every year, after the lottery, Mr. Summers began talking again about a new box, but every year the subject was allowed to fade off without anything being done”. The quote shows how Shirley’s tone was frustrated because people allowed the tradition to continue, even though it was a minor part of the tradition, they didn’t do anything to change it. A topic about changing the tradition was allowed, permitted to fade away. And if people don’t confront or recognize the problem, the tradition will never change. If people confront the problem, something will be done.
People complaining, but not doing anything about it will not solve the problem. On page 2, paragraph 3, it says, “There was a great deal of fussing to be done before Mr. Summers declared the lottery open”. The quote shows how Shirley’s tone was frustrated because people are complaining, but they aren’t doing anything about it. Fussing, complaining, nagging, and fretting doesn’t solve the problem. And being quiet about it won’t solve the problem either.
When you are quiet, most of the time it is because you are shy or scared. Being quiet can cause you many problems because you don’t get to speak out your mind. On page 3, paragraph10, the author wrote, “The people had done it so many times that they only half listened to the directions: most of them were quiet”. The quote helped prove the author’s tone because the author is frustrated because people are so used to doing the same thing, they believe it’s the correct thing to do and then they are scared of being different. If people were to unite, then they would probably do something because they wouldn’t fell alone or different.
In conclusion, the author’s overall tone is frustrated. She is frustrated with the people in the story and in real life. Her message is probably that it’s okay to do things differently because we are unique.