Reflection – The Lottery

What is Jackson saying about tradition in this short story?

In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, the theme of tradition exceeds all else. The village it’s self could be symbolic of tradition, as it is depicted as isolated, encompassed with a tight-knight group of people. This quaintness of this village represents the long-held essence of what a tradition is, something of an institution of specific customs or belief.

What Jackson is trying to portray with the theme of tradition is that: those who become extremely involved to the habit of following tradition will often look over the “morals” or “ethically correct” actions that their tradition looks over. One could easily compare the villages view points to that of a fundamentalist group. The villages ideology’s follow that of an exclusive group. Like old man warren states about villages stopping the lottery, “pack of young fools”. Warren refuses to see the true evil the lottery is bringing, he is so caught up in the idea of strictly following a tradition, he cannot seem to see the other side. The village is secluded to believing their way is the only way, not even considering another option. Tradition its self is not a bad thing, it is the people that follow it. They have the free will to decide what they want to do with it, how they want to follow it. In Jackson’s the Lottery, the adherence and arrogance of the town people is above all else.