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In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, the lottery is an event that the town has done for years and it has become a very important tradition to them. The reason that the people participate in this deadly and unfair tradition is because they believe that it will ensure a good harvest. As Mr. Harvey says in the story, “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon” (Jackson Par.32). The connection between the story and the world is the idea of tradition. So, in the story, if the people truly are convinced that this lottery is the reason for the success of their harvest, then they are not going to want to give it up.
In the story, there is a man that they call Old Man Warner and he is a great example of someone who doesn’t like a change in tradition. He has participated in a total of seventy-seven lotteries. In paragraph 41 he says, “Seventy-seventh year I have been in the lottery,” Old Man Warner said as he went through the crowd” (Jackson Par.41). The lottery had been going on before he was born as well, so this means that lottery has been a tradition that has been kept for almost a century. Old Man Warner is so used to the lottery that he believes that this is how it should be. Another thing that was talked about in the story was the fact that some of the other towns were abandoning the tradition of the lottery and confusion had struck out in the town. When Mrs. Adams tells Old Man Warner about this he gets upset because he is so accustomed to what has been happening in the town for so long that he thinks that what those other towns are doing is wrong. After all, to him, it doesn’t make any sense to abandon such an “essential” tradition. In paragraph thirty-five he says, “Nothing but trouble in that…… Pack of young fools” (Jackson Par.35).
In the world, there is a substantial amount of different traditions that people carry out. Once you have participated in or grown accustomed to something, it will become tough for you to execute change if needed. So, in the story, it makes sense why this town continually performs this tradition every year. it is the backbone of every culture and civilization. It is what keeps the beliefs, philosophies, and activities of societies alive, to be passed down from generation to generation.
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