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Tradition In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

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Tradition can be a wonderful thing, it can bring entire social groups together with the potential of bettering their society. Tradition however can be a terrible thing at the same time, taking primitive thoughts and ideas, and turning them into harmful actions. When does tradition go too far? Is it when the people are killing off their loved ones based on the ideas of a leader whose only true power is arbitrary? Shirley Jackson showcases the danger of blindly following tradition through her book The Lottery, showing that danger is never perceived by those who follow it unconditionally.
The Lottery at the beginning of the story appears as if nothing is wrong, children play, wives are gossiping and men are playfully joking on an average day …show more content…
There was no remorse or hesitation in the killing, the villager’s acted as if they were killing just a common beast. Not only were the villager’s just attempting to carry out the tradition of the lottery, but they wanted to be the one to kill the “winner”. Mrs. Delacroix picked a rock so large that it required two hands just to wield. The village came down upon Tessie like a psychotic storm of birds swarming on a meal, the only thing driving them was their animalistic nature. They felt neither sorrow, pleasure, or anger, they felt nothing; and this was just an annual situation for the village. The fact that the lottery is tradition gave the villagers all the justification they needed in order not to feel a thing. This story was social Indoctrination at its finest, having barbaric rituals maintained throughout the ages despite the obvious issues it causes to the morality of man. Sense this is caused by social conformity it would be unfair to call the villager’s morally unjust or psychopath’s. In their heads they are Christian crusader’s and by doing this they secure the lives of everyone else in the

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