Meaningless Tradition and Family Relationships

Ashley von der Burg Lauer
ENG 102
September 8, 2014

Both “The Rocking-Horse Winner” by D.H. Lawrence and Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” demonstrate how social pressures and meaningless customs obscure values and destroy relationships within the family however, in “The Rocking-Horse Winner,” familial bonds are dissolved over a long period of time whereas the relationships in “The Lottery” are disregarded for only a short while once a year. Both stories are similar in that family relationships must submit to the customs of society though such customs have become meaningless over time. However, in “The Rocking-Horse Winner”, family relationships are disregarded and never reestablished. There is no sign of any intent to reestablish or build relationships in the first place. In contrast, the relationships in “The Lottery” are disregarded but reestablished shortly after and reestablished with intent to do so. In Lawrence’s “The Rocking-Horse Winner”, Hester is a member of an upper class society and in maintaining her perceived superior position, she fosters and insatiable desire for money. However, the upper class custom of keeping up a lavish lifestyle has become meaningless for Hester for when she comes upon more money, it fails to satisfy her and only sharpens her cravings. The relationships she has with her children suffer as a result. Hester is so consumed with greed that she is unable to feel love in her heart for anyone and thus neglects her children and finds her marriage disappointing. Her children know she does not love them and her coldness towards them dissolves her relationship with them over time and this relationship is not reestablished. The same can be said about her relationship with her husband. She married him “for love” but “the love turned to dust.” Hester does not value love, she values money and her husband does not have enough and it is because, as she claims, he is unlucky. The pressures of societal custom cause Hester to make getting more money the chief goal of her relationships; her sense of values has been obscured. This faulty sense of values may even have been instilled in her from when she was a little girl growing up in her upper class family, which attests to how deeply ingrained these values are in this society. Hester’s goal to get more money is meaningless. Even when she receives a large sum of money, her greed is not satisfied. More money does nothing for her except make her worse by increasing her need for it. In this story, love is replaced by greed and familial relationships are disregarded entirely which results in the long-term neglect experienced by Hester’s children. Hester is more loyal to upper class customs than to her own children and the relationships destroyed are never restored. In Jackson’s “The Lottery”, the custom of carrying out the lottery each year has become meaningless over time yet, the villagers continue to disregard familial bonds during the ritual without ever considering rebelling against it. During the lottery, there is a line drawn between a family’s social place and the emotional importance of relationships within that family. The lottery forces the villagers to disregard the relationships they hold with each other but after, the family reasserts those bonds to continue with their everyday lives. The lottery is a tradition that is of utmost importance to the villagers. However, no one knows when or why the lottery began and no one can even consider the lottery ending. In fact, other towns that have done away with it are criticized as being a “pack of crazy fools.” Mr. Warner asserts that doing away with the lottery will send the town back in advancement and cause them to live in caves. He essentially claims that doing away with the lottery will de-civilize the town. However important this ritual is for the villagers, they do not even follow the original way of carrying out their tradition. The black box they use is not even completely black and it isn’t the original one that was used. However, the villagers do not want to “upset the tradition”. Also, the method of carrying out the lottery is not even upheld to original standard; instead of using wood chips, they use pieces of paper. It’s obvious that the town lacks knowledge and understanding of the lottery and why it’s important which gives the lottery so much power despite how meaningless it has become. Family bonds must submit themselves to this meaningless tradition. In this story, the villagers are more loyal to the custom than they are to their own family. Both “The Rocking-Horse Winner” and “The Lottery” express the dangers of blindly following customs and how a lack of understanding renders them meaningless over time. The consequence of forcing the family to submit to such customs is a faulty sense of values and the decrease of importance of familial bonds. In “The Rocking-Horse Winner”, Hester’s top priority of chasing money was truly meaningless, as it served no purpose for her other than sharpening her craving for more. This caused her to neglect her children and the relationships disregarded were never considered again. In contrast, the relationships in “The Lottery” were disregarded for a short time the reestablished upon the lottery’s conclusion. However, just like the story of “The Rocking-Horse Winner”, it was the following of meaningless tradition that caused relationships to be disregarded in the first place.

Bibliography

Kennedy, X J., and Dana Gioia. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction,
Poetry, Drama, and Writing. 7th ed. Boston, MA: Pearson, 2012.

Outline

Thesis: Both “The Rocking-Horse Winner” and “The Lottery” demonstrate how social pressures obscure values and destroy relationships within the family however, in “The Rocking-Horse Winner,” familial bonds are dissolved over a long period of time whereas the relationships in “The Lottery” are disregarded for only a short while once a year.
I. Customs in society obscure right and wrong resulting in a faulty sense of values. A. Both stories had customs that were unthinkingly followed by the members of that society. These customs obscured the families’ values. 1. In “The Rocking-Horse Winner” love was replaced by money because the mother was so concerned about keeping up her style as she was a member of a high-class society. The children never received affection and experienced neglect. 2. In “The Lottery” any familiar relationship is disregarded during the ritual because it is a tradition in their society. B. Both stories involved meaningless customs within society. 1. Greed and public image in “The Rocking-Horse Winner” replaced familial love. 2. In “The Lottery,” the people in the town had no knowledge or understanding of their own custom or its history however they continued to do it and could not imagine rebelling against it. Their tradition became meaningless over time due to this lack of history and knowledge. II. In “The Rocking-Horse Winner,” familial bonds are dissolved over a long period of time whereas the relationships in “The Lottery” are disregarded for only a short while once a year. A. In “The Rocking-Horse Winner” the family’s relationships are destroyed due to obsession of money and neglect over a long period of time. 1. The mother was obsessed with getting more money and even when she did, her cravings were never satisfied. 2. Her children knew she didn’t love them though everyone thought she did. Paul sought to “compel her attention” by showing that he was “lucky.” In the end, Paul dies from neglect and his never-ending attempts to win his mother’s affection. B. In “The Lottery” family relationships are disregarded only during the ritual and are reinstated after the lottery is over. 1. Family relationships are of no emotional importance during lottery as each family member of the chosen family ends up drawing against one another in order to follow a custom. 2. The town was eager to get on with the lottery so they could resume with their everyday lives.