Essay on Ritual and Tradition in Shirley Jacksons The...

Everyone has their own way of solving problems; however, ritual is a form that people doing one thing in the same way. It defines as â€Å"the prescribed form of conducting a formal secular ceremony.† However if the meaning of ritual is mistaken, the consequence could be unpredictable. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson gives us a lecture about a tortuous ritual. The story takes place in a small village with 300 citizens, they gather for a yearly lottery which everyone should participate. The story leads to a horrific ending by people forgetting the concept of ritual. When people think of a lottery, they draw an image with a big amount of money in head. However in the story â€Å"The Lottery†, the price is death. It starts in the morning of a bright,†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"Because so much of the ritual [has] been forgotten or discarded† (Jackson 205). How can people follow a rule without knowing it? The villagers just ignore what the signification of the ritual is; they would like being blind, just follow the process. There is a point about Old Man Warner. When people suggest canceling the drawing, he said, â€Å"‘Pack of crazy fools.’† (Jackson 208). Jackson also states his words: â€Å"lottery in June, harvest soon† (207). The drawing of death symbolizes harvest in elders’ eyes. He gets really nervous when people say they should quit the lottery because he is the oldest man in town, it’s his duty to keep the village organized. No matter what price they would pay for it. Black symbolizes death. The black box for drawing and the slip of paper with a black pot are symbols tend to the ending. The one who gets the â€Å"big price† is Tessie Hutchinson who disputes the drawing twice. She is the one not following the rule, doubts the ritual. And the purpose that the villagers doing this drawing by forgotten the point of it, is to get rid of people fall off the road, to keep their village in a traditional way, in their eyes. It is sad that misuse of rituals could lead people to death. â€Å"The Lottery† illustrates a rural town with small population doing a drawing yearly to pick one person and stone him (her) to death. People follow rituals to remember the elders or being moral; it’s not the way ofShow MoreRelatedEssay about The Lottery534 Words   |  3 Pages Shirley Jacksons, The Lottery, has raised questions in the back of every readers mind towards the destructive yet blind rituals of mankind. A reflection of ourselves is what we see when looking through the pond of Jacksons mind. 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Today when one thinks about winning, one does not think about the community or close relatives; one thinks about how one is going to spend the money received. However, in Jackson’s short story, â€Å"The Lottery† represents a human sacrifice by means of stoning withRead MoreThe Lottery, By Shirley Jackson2061 Words   |  9 PagesIn Shirley Jackson’s, â€Å"The Lottery,† the author demonstrates the loss of the original significance of a tradition that results from people blindly following it. For example, the author makes it blatantly clear in the beginning of the story that The Lottery, the village’s annual ritual, which involves a human sacrifice is beginning to have lesser and lesser symbolic value to the villagers as opposed to when it began due to a lack of understanding in regard to the tradition’s significance. Secondly