The Unfair Tradition In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery
Erica Via
Rhiannon Flannery
COM 131 – Composition and Literature
30 September 2014
Essay A – Short Story Analysis
The Unfair Tradition
The lottery, a chance to win, usually money, but that is not the case in Shirley Jackson’s legendary short story “The Lottery.” Winning the lottery in this case presents a conundrum of sorts. The story does not present a big build, a huge climax, an epiphany, or a conclusion. Instead Jackson leaves us astonished in the end with the only climactic event happening just as she stops writing. It is not until that moment where we can not only see the greater theme in which we realize the horrors that can lay in conformity but it is also then in which we realize that the entire story was full of words, things and people that all held some form of symbolism. What these symbols represent is left …show more content…
It symbolizes conformity and the dark side of tradition. We are all more apt to follow the crowd or participate in something because everyone else is, and even continue on with something that may be wrong just because it is the way it is supposed to be. The small village in “The Lottery” carried on this heinous tradition simply because “there’s always been a lottery” (419). As Mrs. Hutchinson arrived late that summer “…morning of June 27th” (416) she claimed she “clean forgot what day it was” (417), and even shared a little laugh about it with Mrs. Delacroix, there were even jokes about not leaving dishes in the sink. Clearly it was a morning like every other, at least to this town and these people. They carried on as if it were any ordinary day. Fast forward to then end, after we realize that Tessie was already singled out at the beginning, we now realize she was singled out for a reason. Tessie didn’t even seem to care much what day it was as it was a normal part of life to her, or at least she didn’t care until she was the
Rhiannon Flannery
COM 131 – Composition and Literature
30 September 2014
Essay A – Short Story Analysis
The Unfair Tradition
The lottery, a chance to win, usually money, but that is not the case in Shirley Jackson’s legendary short story “The Lottery.” Winning the lottery in this case presents a conundrum of sorts. The story does not present a big build, a huge climax, an epiphany, or a conclusion. Instead Jackson leaves us astonished in the end with the only climactic event happening just as she stops writing. It is not until that moment where we can not only see the greater theme in which we realize the horrors that can lay in conformity but it is also then in which we realize that the entire story was full of words, things and people that all held some form of symbolism. What these symbols represent is left …show more content…
It symbolizes conformity and the dark side of tradition. We are all more apt to follow the crowd or participate in something because everyone else is, and even continue on with something that may be wrong just because it is the way it is supposed to be. The small village in “The Lottery” carried on this heinous tradition simply because “there’s always been a lottery” (419). As Mrs. Hutchinson arrived late that summer “…morning of June 27th” (416) she claimed she “clean forgot what day it was” (417), and even shared a little laugh about it with Mrs. Delacroix, there were even jokes about not leaving dishes in the sink. Clearly it was a morning like every other, at least to this town and these people. They carried on as if it were any ordinary day. Fast forward to then end, after we realize that Tessie was already singled out at the beginning, we now realize she was singled out for a reason. Tessie didn’t even seem to care much what day it was as it was a normal part of life to her, or at least she didn’t care until she was the