Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Social norms psychology essay
Social norms psychology essay
Social norms in social space
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, there are certain traditions that are upheld by the characters in the story. These characters that Jackson created are not even sure why they are following the traditions. This story shows the reader how mankind will react to different situations that they are put into. Even when something is going bad or is wrong, people will not be a leader and stop it. The characters in this story should not have tolerated with the inhumane tradition that was held every year. The characters in this story are extremely stubborn about the traditions that they follow. Most of them continue with it because they do not want to be exiled from society. They keep the tradition going just because they feel that it is the right thing to do no matter how horrifying the …show more content…
Being a spectator and not doing anything about it even if you think something is wrong with what is happening. Clearly publicly executing someone is an inhumane thing to do no matter where you live. Having children and possibly the children of whoever is being executed take part in the execution is dreadful. Mrs. Hutchinson is crying and pleading for her life when she wins the lottery. There is no reason to put a citizen of a community through that. These characters think they are being humane by not going against tradition, but they are doing the opposite and are being inhumane. The lottery can’t be tolerated in any way. No one should have to die just because they have bad luck. Therefore, all the characters in the story are being inhumane by going through with this tradition. At least one of them should have stepped up and not participated to send a message against this inhumane activity that is held every year. It can be seen today and happens in the world today. Humans want to be followers to make their lives easier instead of taking leadership and making everyone else’s lives
This seeming universal support is ultimately shown to be a claim, rather than a true belief. For when Tessie Hutchinson is chosen in the lottery, she quickly inverts her values of tradition over self, and acts in self-preservation. She is targeted, “and she held her hands out desperately as the villagers moved in on her. ‘It isn’t fair,’ she said. Old Man Warner was saying, ‘Come on, come on, everyone.’ … ‘It isn’t fair, it isn’t right,’ Mrs. Hutchinson screamed” (415). Here the true colors of the community are shown, and the fallacy in Old Man Warner’s logic of the value of tradition being self-evident is clear. While Mrs. Hutchinson supported the lottery by agreeing to take part in it, once she is chosen, she begins her protest, and attacks the tradition itself. She holds her hands out and claims that the fact she was chosen is not fair. This directly contrasts with
Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery" is all about how an old tradition as the lottery exceeds our expectations. First by giving us the readers the believe that the price of the lottery would be something great. Making us questioning the results and why to do this with no explanation at the end. Teaching us how traditions are that don’t make sense are killing because Society is clinging to this traditions and practices.
...popular. Shirley Jackson succeeded in writing a story that shocked the readers and gave them a new outlook on preserving traditions and imperfections of society. The human sacrifices that occur every year with the lottery show that some traditions are brutal and need to be reconsidered. Some of the symbolism such as the lottery, the black box, and the characters help bring about the theme of the short story. Ultimately, Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery shows just how individuals follow traditions and people in front of them by conforming to society.
Americans day after day live much of their lives following time-honored traditions that are passed down from one generation to another. From simple everyday cooking and raising children, to holidays and other family rituals, tradition plays a significant role on how they go by there everyday lives. In Shirley Jackson's short story, "The Lottery," the citizens of a small farming town follow one such tradition. A point is made regarding human nature in relation to tradition. The story begins on a beautiful summer afternoon. The town's citizens are eager, gathering in the town square in order to take part in the yearly lottery. With the story focused around one particular family, the Hutchinsons, who are so anxious to get it all over with until they find that one of their members is to participate in the lottery's closing festivities, Tessie. Of course unlike your typical lotteries, this is not one that you would want to win. The one chosen from the lottery is to undertake a cruel and unusual death by stoning at the hands of their fellow townsmen for the sake that it may bring a fruitful crop for the coming harvest season. Ironically, many of the towns people have suggested that the lottery be put to an end, but most find the idea unheard of being that they have lived in it's practice for most of their lives. The story conveys a message that traditions may be valued so highly that those in their practice may do everything they can to ensure that they continue in accordance. From this a question arises. How far would one go to ensure their sacred traditions remain unscathed?
In “The Lottery”, the villagers followed the tradition without thinking about the origin of it. They even forgot the rituals and the chants for this tradition. Similarly, in Fineman’s article, the citizens of Pandhurn followed the tradition and it became all about bravery and looks in front of the camera. They did not think about what they were doing. Also in Milgram’s experiment, the idea was about how people follow orders from people of authority
In every village it is always difficult to try and change they ways of the people. What one village sees as wrong, another may see as right. Some of the villagers may be stubborn enough to not change traditions that physically affect a person. Mr. Joe Summers is a man who ran the coal business for the village. He was a man who had time for civic activities, but no one really liked him. The reason as to why no one liked him was because “[H]e had no children, and his wife was a scold” (Jackson ). Mr. Summers had the privilege of carrying the revered wooden black box. Along side of Mr. Summers stood another man by the name of Mr. Harry Graves. Mr. Graves was the man who helped, Mr. Summers, make the slips of paper that would be used in the lottery, and he took the three-legged stool to the site of the lottery; which is where the black box was supposed to rest on. “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's being done” (Jackson ). The box was never changed because no one wa...
Although one may think that the tradition is horrible, the town does not. They see it as something that brings them together on one day of the year. The people live in fear of this tradition because they don’t want to be chosen. It seems as though the people can’t think for themselves and they are scared of changed. The people do not know who started the tradition nor why it was started in the first place. They never talk about previous winners and towards the end, we still don’t know what happens to the Hutchinson family. The lack of freedom in this story is what Thoreau is fighting for in Civil Disobedience. It’s hard to win that fight when society only knows one way and it’s constantly controlled by the people in power.
...d the setting. “The Lottery” remains applicable in our culture today. The story in of itself epitomizes tradition, the undisputed traditions that survive not just in the culture of “The Lottery.” “The Lottery” strongly demonstrates the collective mindset of Mr. Hutchinson and the rest of the villagers who contributed in the stoning of his own wife. Oftentimes people lose their distinctiveness, and are often peer-pressured into doing something that they do not want to do. When analyzing the text, Mr. Hutchinson went from clowning with his wife to slaughtering her in a short period of time exemplifies how recklessly individuals can have a change of heart. In the end, the tradition needed to be changed by the victim, Mrs. Hutchinson, but then it was too late and the tradition lives on even though it is not the best of traditions by stoning another individual to death.
In Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” suggest that the lottery is not a lottery that most people think of but a lottery that consists of losing a life. Jackson supports her claims by the use of irony, symbolism, and foreshadowing to depict the impact of following tradition. The author’s purpose is to point out that tradition is not always a good thing in order to do that Jackson end the story with something as horrible as death. The author writes in an ironic tone to suggest that people follow traditions that maybe not acceptable to society.
Imagine year after year being forced to participate in an event that you did not accept all. You are doing it because everyone else is, because it is tradition. This is exactly what happens in “The Lottery”. The purpose of this essay is to explain the literary elements of this short story. Also I will explain how similar it is the famous “Hunger Games”.
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.
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.
When you hear the word “lottery”, the average person would usually think of something good or “clear and sunny” (1). This short story will have the reader thinking differently. Whether you love it or hate it, “The Lottery” has sparked emotion in everyone who has read the short story. This story masterfully shows that some traditions are not meant to be kept. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a short story about the yearly lottery in a small village of three hundred. Everyone in the village picks a ticket out of the black box starting with the husband. If your last name is picked, the husband or a member of his family is picked via ticket draw. The person picked that time is subject to stoning. This sadistic cycle is then repeated every year.
In "The Lottery" Shirley Jackson fills her story with many literary elements to mask the evil. The story demonstrates how it is in human nature to blindly follow traditions. Even if the people have no idea why they follow.
“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a short story that brings to light the problems a society faces when blindly following traditions. Due to a tradition as old as the town itself, every year someone is forced to draw the “black spot.” This black spot means that person is stoned to death, regardless of family status or even age. Communities have a tendency to stick to traditions, regardless of how logical it may or may not be, how old it is, or even whether or not everyone understands why they continue it; and traditions should always have their importance reevaluated.