As humans, we don’t like change. As practices and routines settle down deep into our bones, we become so used to it that we lose focus as to why we began to do such things in the first place, and yet we still continue. To illustrate the dangers of this senseless following of tradition, Shirley Jackson, in her short story “The Lottery”, tells of an annual lottery in a small town where the unlucky winner gets stoned to death. It’s clear in the story that the lottery was originally a sacrificial ritual for the people to have a good harvest, but this has long been forgotten. Instead, it no longer serves any real purpose but is merely a tradition that the villagers are too accustomed to and are afraid of discontinuing. Simply put, out of an irrational terror that stopping the lottery will lead to grave consequences, the people of the town continue it, proving furthermore that it has become normal to them.
Just like many other civilizations during ancient times, the ancestors of the townspeople initially created the lottery to decide on who to sacrifice for their gods; however, they now no longer remember the purpose behind the killing. Through their saying, “‘Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon’” (Jackson 260-1), which we hear from Old Man Warner, we can infer that the people of old believed sacrifices would bring a more plentiful harvest of crops (like corn); hence, the lottery was first brought about. Yet as the days passed, they likely began to abandon their religion or belief; as a result, they no longer cared for important aspects of the original tradition. From the beginning of the story, just through the description of the shabby, splintered black box (85-9), readers can tell that the lottery has been going on for a long, long, time. If it started so long ago, so that even this box, which isn’t the original one (78-82), becomes so used, then how can the villagers possibly remember why it was created? Furthermore, it is revealed that Mr. Summers had replaced the chips of wood that had been used for generations with slips of paper (93-6), and that the black box was put away someplace random, such as the barn or the post office or the grocery, and left there once the lottery was finished (107-11). Those wooden chips and the box probably symbolize something religious, but the people, even the official of the lottery, no longer care. Additionally, there had been a chanted recital that the officials of the lottery, walking amongst the people, once said or sang, but by the time of the events in the story it was considered “perfunctory” and “tuneless”, and had been discontinued (119-127). Moreover, there was also a ritual salute, which too had ceased to be of any importance (127-133). Officials of the lottery were supposed to perform all this, which shows that they had probably been a symbol of an important religious movement. But now it’s managed by a pathetic Mr. Summers, who also manages ordinary events. Therefore, we know that the lottery has merely become something that is normal and casual like “the square dances, the teen-age club, and the Halloween party” (50-1). All of these are signs that this killing had once had a reason and faith behind it that have been long since forgotten and ignored.
Since the lottery has always happened, the villagers now fear to terminate it and unthinkingly follow along with the slaughter as a group, as it has already become a normalcy to them. Albeit knowing much of the history of the town, Old Man Warner is still possessed by a superstitious fear of not having the lottery. When Mr. Adams mentions that other towns have already stopped the custom, Warner criticizes them, saying that they’d soon “be wanting to go back to living in caves, nobody work any more, live that way for a while’” (257-9), and that they’d be eating chickweed and acorns instead of real crops if they ever ditched the lottery (262). Because it has become so deeply rooted in people’s lives, the old man is afraid that stopping the lottery will lead to the destruction of civilization. His views are concerningly similar to modern perspectives of many major holidays–just a more severe version. Take Halloween, for example. Without receiving any prior knowledge, would you know why it is a custom to trick or treat on October 31st? Would you know why we dress up? No. We just do it because everybody does it, and our lives would feel drastically different and unusual if we didn’t. What’s more, this holiday–and numerous others–have been celebrated annually ever since we were children, just like how we see the children of the town in “The Lottery” participate in their own tradition. At the start, Bobby Martin and several other boys set up the stones (20-27). Those we eventually learn are to be used to kill Mrs. Hutchinson–but stones were even passed to Davy Hutchinson–the son of the victim! Here we can see that the kids have already become accustomed to this tradition from a young age. Once humans become used to things, it’s hard to change their habits, especially if this routine has stuck to them ever since they were babies. As generations and generations of people in the town grow up watching the lottery happen, they slowly become desensitized to it. Another reason the tradition is still thriving is because of its lack of responsibility and guilt on the villagers. When Mrs. Hutchinson is being stoned to death, the text says, “A stone hit her on the side of the head” (425-6). Notice that it’s not specifically somebody’s stone, just a stone. Since everybody is throwing the rocks anyway, why does it matter who started it by throwing the first stone, and who ended it by killing her at last? Because it’s a group activity, and everybody is partaking in it, it doesn’t make the participants guilty of murder, and makes it easier to join in–similar to peer pressure in our society that most people have experienced in one way or another.
Despite the fact that the lottery once had a religious purpose behind it, the villagers have forgotten about it and instead persist in continuing the tradition due to fear of the consequences and having become used to it over time. At first, the ancestors of the town created the lottery as a sacrifice to their religion. But as the days passed, the townspeople began to forget their religion, which also caused them to neglect the vital aspects of the lottery. Consequently, they only continued it because it was a superstition that they feared would bring terrible results if stopped. Furthermore, they have gotten so used and desensitized to it that it no longer troubles them anymore. Through her disturbing story, Jackson is trying to show to us the flaws in our society of blind superstition and tradition, and what could happen if such things had gone wrong.
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