The Lottery is a story that shows the human capacity for violence particularly when the violence is due to appeal for tradition. The lottery further shows details of a contemporary town in America where life is embroidered with description of a ritual. (The lottery). It is done to ensure that there is a good harvest. People can blindly follow the traditions while not thinking about the consequences which result to people turning against each other.
The lottery took place on 27thJune a summer day while all the residents had gathered for the annual traditional ritual. “The people began to assemble in the square which was between the bank and the post office, at around 10 o’clock (1). Nobody was interested in winning the lottery. Before the lottery began, the villagers kept distance from the stool where the black box was placed. They further hesitated when Mr.Summer asked for help. The story has various characters and below is an examination of their feelings towards the lottery.
Tessie Hutchinson is the unlucky loser in the lottery. She draws the paper which has a black mark and is stoned to death. Tessie was excited about the lottery and did show willingness to participate fully in the ritual every year, however, when the name of her family is drawn, she protests and urges that the lottery was not fair. “It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t fair, she screamed as the rest of the villagers were upon her”. She was the only villager who protested the lottery when her family drew.
Old man warner is the oldest man within the village and fully appreciates the ritual. He has on many times participated in the lottery. 77 times which was a symbol of luck. Warner condemns young people living in the village who do not uphold the lottery, those that believe that the lottery returns them to a barbaric state. Mr. Summers is the man who was entrusted to conduct to the lottery whereby he prepared the slips that went into the box and called names of those individuals who drew the papers. He also appreciates the ritual. Bill Hutchison is Tessie’s husband. He supports the lottery and when the wife protests his selection, he tells her to shut up. It is unclear why but maybe he believes in the lottery or does not want his family to be ashamed before the entire village. Mrs.Graves also believes in the lottery as shown when she tells Tess” the lottery is fair, after all, everybody had an equal chance”
The members of the village are reluctant to participate in the lottery. They just did it because it was a tradition and they did not Cleary understand why it was held. The villagers felt that the lottery was just an ancient custom. They accepted it since they had no choice and refusal to uphold it would lead to murder.
It can be argued that the villagers did not want the lottery to continue. This is because the lottery had been a tradition which had to be followed since the ancient times and had no adverse results. The villagers had become used to this traditions and they didn’t find anything wrong or right with it. One way to support this is when Mrs.Adams notes that “most places had alreadyabandoned the lotteries”. Also most rituals surrounding the lottery tradition were changing, further showing that the villagers were tired of repeating the same ritual from time to time.
The lottery seemed to benefit people in the village by giving a symbol of normality to the generations. E.g. collecting stones by the children seemed a game to them even though they did not realize the violent nature in it. This is as a result of being raised within an environment which upheld traditions. However the villagers were tired of the traditions and wanted to embrace change just like other societies which sum referred to as dumb. As much as the villagers had accepted the ritual to be part of their life, there are signs that they want to get rid of it by the indicator that their neighbors had abandoned it.
Work Cited
Jackson, S. (2005). The lottery and other stories. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
