The Lottery :: essays papers

The LotteryMerriam-Websters online mental lexicon defines custom as, an inherited,established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior (as a spiritual practice or a social custom) and the handing down ofinformation, beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by example from iodine contemporaries to another without written instruction. If we are to goby the latter translation , we can understand how traditions are easilylost. Have you ever contend the game telephone? You whisper something insomeones ear and they whisper it in another persons ear until itfinally returns back to you and ordinarily what is returned isnt evenclose to what you originally whispered into the first persons ear InShirley Jacksons short story ,The Lottery ,the main theme is howtraditions that lose their center due to human for stick tofulness can causedreadful consequences to occur. Jackson uses a lot of symbolism to showthis. The story is set in a small town, on the morning of June27th(272). It opens with false innocence , apply the children buildinga rock pile, tricking the reader into a disturbingly oblivious(predicate) state.The reader almost expects the Lottery to be something wonderful sincethe normal draftsmanship has the winner getting a prize of a large descendof money or possesion. Even the story alludes to the innocence ,explaining how the the town to a fault holds square dances, teenage club andthe Halloween program(273) in the same skin senses that the lottery is held.In the Lottery we discover that the town-folk use a lottery, to rolla winner to stone to death. The winner is picked using a colour logethat has been around for ages, and has even been rebuilt with partssupposedly from the original drear box.(273) Within the box are slipsof paper, enough for the entire town. On one slip of paper is a blackdot for the one lucky winner. Black has always been a symbol for death,and the color of the box and dot are no exception to this rule. One ofMerriam -Websters dictionary definitions of black is marked by theoccurance of disaster . The black dot on the slip of paperidentifies the lucky winner of the lottery-the person who will getstoned to death. No-one in town trustworthyly knows exactly why it is atradition although they have some vague ideas. Old Man Warner alludesthat it was erstwhile said lottery in June, corn be heavy before long.(276)Ironically, even the oldest member of this village doesnt evenremember the real reason behind the lottery.