Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery': How tradition is skewed
Date Submitted: 09/09/2006 22:28:21
Category: / Literature / North American
Length: 2 pages (673 words)
Category: / Literature / North American
Length: 2 pages (673 words)
In the short story 'The Lottery' by Shirley Jackson the theme is an illustration of certain aspects of human nature, namely blindly following established traditions without comprehending their purpose or understanding their history. When readers think of winning a lottery they relate that win with good fortune and happiness, but not in this case. The town's some 300 citizens stone the winner of Jackson's lottery to death seemingly unemotionally and detached from this gruesome event because …
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…was wrong, but they justified it by saying they were only one in a much larger crowd.
Shirley Jackson has illustrated her theme very effectively in 'The Lottery.' By shocking her readers and showing how human nature can be evil when we blindly go along just because of tradition. This story is a shocking satire on the human condition. But what is even more shocking is that mankind continues to perpetuate behaviors like these.
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