Tradition is defined as “the handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, information, etc. from generation to generation, especially by word of mouth or by practice” (“Definition”). In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, readers are exposed to a fatal tradition with no true purpose other than the fact that it is tradition. Many traditions are established during special circumstances, but continue to be upheld long past their due date for fear of change and the imagined repercussions. The short story, “The Lottery”, uses the element of theme to properly create this message and relate it to current issues.
Jackson artfully portrayed the possible pitfalls of needless traditions throughout “The Lottery”. The story begins with an introduction to a seemingly innocent, albeit boring, town gathering. The children gather around the town square, and then their parents follow suit, and finally Mr. Summers, the man in charge of the whole production, assumes his position in the front with the traditional black box. The assembly proceeds as Mr. Summers calls the head of each household to him and then hands them a slip of paper stowed away in the black box. After every family received a piece of paper, they all simultaneously unfolded them to reveal which family had been chosen. In this particular year the Hutchinson family had chosen the piece of paper that took them one step further in the lottery.
The entire family then received slips of paper for each family member and repeated the whole process all over again. It is then revealed that the mother of the family, Tessie, had been chosen. At this point in the story the reader is becoming increasingly curious as to what Tessie has been chosen for due to her distress over this revelation. Tessie is then forced out in the open in the middle of a clearing while the entire community enclosed in on her and proceeded to stone her to death before casually returning to the rest of their day-to-day lives.
This story is a dramatic portrayal of the blind following of traditions. The villagers seem almost indifferent to the entire event even though they are committing a nonsensical murder. The only time the villagers seem agitated is when Mr. Adams mentions that a different village is considering abolishing the lottery in their community. Old Man Warner is particularly agitated by this comment and proceeds to make his own comment saying, “Pack of crazy fools listening to the young folks, nothing’s ever good enough for them. Next thing you know, they’ll be wanting to go back to living in caves, nobody work anymore, live that way for a while” (861).
Old Man Warner’s statement suggests that he believes that giving up the lottery would force the villagers to revert back to living like barbarians which is quite ironic in light of the situation. Old Man Warner supplies no justification to support these outlandish claims other than it would be breaking tradition. The villagers commit a murder every year at random for absolutely no reason at all other than it is tradition and they do not question it whatsoever. Through this structuralized ignorance, Jackson demonstrates the devastating effects of blindly following a movement and not questioning the reasoning behind the movement’s actions.
Another way that Jackson has used theme to provide a message about pointless traditions is through the misinterpretation of tradition. As seen in the text the villagers had lost many of the details of the original tradition: “The original paraphernalia for the lottery had been lost long ago, and the black box now resting on the stool had been put into use even before Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town, was born. Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box. There was a story that the present box had been made with some pieces of the box that had preceded it, the one that had been constructed when the first people settled down to make a village here.
Every year, after the lottery, Mr. Summers began talking again about a new box, but every year the subject was allowed to fade off without anything’s being done. The black box grew shabbier each year; by now it was no longer completely black but splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color, and in some places faded or stained” (858).
With the black box and the founding of the lottery not written down anywhere the original purpose is lost as well as the relevance to the modern time. With suggestions being shot down by all, we can see that Jackson draws an analogy between the wish to avoid change and how the citizens resist altering the tradition in any way. With the original purpose of the lottery being lost, changes being opposed at every turn, as well as talk of different renewals being ignored each year, an observation about tradition can be distinctly made. The villagers are adamant to keep this arbitrary tradition and uphold specific rules but dismiss other rules thus proving that they are not upholding the tradition out of any significance but out of habit.
Another example of this in the text relates to the swearing in of the officials: “There was the proper swearing-in of Mr. Summers by the postmaster, as the official of the lottery; at one time, some people remembered, there had been a recital of some sort, performed by the official of the lottery, a perfunctory, tuneless chant that had been rattled off duly each year; some people believed that the official of the lottery used to stand just so when he said or sang it, others believed that he was supposed to walk among the people, but years and years ago this part of the ritual had been allowed to lapse. There had been, also, a ritual salute, which the official of the lottery had had to use in addressing each person who came up to draw from the box, but this also had changed with time, until now it was felt necessary only for the official to speak to each person approaching” (859).
While the officials used to be more human and involved they have removed themselves without opposition because the people did not see this as a threat to the tradition but a simple detail without value. This shows what the people truly care about. The important part of the tradition is that someone dies and the entire village participates in their murder. Jackson demonstrated that people would latch on to the goriest part of a tradition and then defend it relentlessly.
The short story “The Lottery” was designed to reflect on the downfalls of aimlessly following a tradition while also evaluating the actions of individuals caught in the vicious cycle. By an impressive use of theme and other elements she is able to outline the ignorant and simple-minded thought pattern that all tradition symbolizes progress and civilization by providing a tradition that is seen as such but is obviously not. Aimless following of a shadow of a tradition without cause or reason can lead to negative effects that make the lives of those involved difficult or at risk. Using this short story, Jackson is able to warn those that read it what the repercussions to aimlessly following a tradition without question can be.
