Transgressions

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is a very riveting short story. One of the main themes of this story is the effect of following traditions blindly. Traditions are usually passed down through ones family, culture, church are any other dominant institution. In The Lottery, traditions are passed down through this culture the founders of the village created in which they believe “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon". It is a practice that leads the horrific sacrifice of one of the villagers. Throughout the story there are many signs of transgressions, which the villagers choose to disregard.

“The black box grew shabbier each year: by now it was no longer completely black but splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color, and in some places faded or stained,” (The Lottery). The black box is a symbol of how old the tradition of the lottery was. Its descriptions showed that the tradition was getting. The way in which the black box was slowly but surly falling apart, is the way in which this tradition may one day fall apart. The villagers refusal to replace the box can be interpreted as them being afraid to alter this tradition. Whether or not the villagers were aware; they did transgress from the original practice of the lottery.

For instance, instead of using chips of wood they used slips of paper. “Mr. Summers had been successful in having slips of paper substituted for the chips of wood that had been used for generations,” (The Lottery). This change is a metaphor for the village outgrowing the tradition of the lottery. With the help of Mr. Summers they decided to use slips of paper, which shows that if one person stood up and spoke out, more changes could come to this horrific ritual. Other signs of transgression shown in the story is the fact that some villages had stopped doing the lottery,

It was stated in the story that a village in the north no longer practiced the lottery. The fact that the north village had decided to forgo this tradition was a sign that the lottery is actually not necessary. It is possible to survive without this sacrifice. But the villagers are resistant to this change, especially Old man Warner. Old man Warner called the people in the north village a “Pack of crazy fools...listening to the young folks, nothing good enough for them,” (The Lottery). His comment depicts that he, like most of the villagers, are resistant to change. If anyone decides to stray away from this tradition they will be ridiculed. Old man Warner’s comment about the “young folks” shows that change is more likely to come from the younger generation than the old, because the old generation knows no other way. Despite that changes that the villagers have made and the change happening around them, the villagers refuse to stop the lottery.

Their refusal to let the tradition go shows the dangerous effects of following traditions blindly. In The Lottery the passage that most affected me was when Tesse Hutchinson’s family turned against her. It’s stated that, “Bill Hutchinson went over to his wife and forced the slip of paper out of her hand. It had a black spot on it… Bill Hutchinson held it up, and there was a stir in the crowd.” Bill Hutchinson was Tesse’s husband and he did not try to protect her. This scared me because family is suppose to protect each other, yet in this case the family so easily turned on one of their own. This passage depicted that sometimes people follow traditions so blindly that they willingly turn against the ones they love.

Tesse Hutchinson is not at all innocent. After all the years that Tesse lived in the village it can be assumed that she partook in the ritual of the lottery before.

She never questioned the tradition until her family picked the unlucky slip of paper. This shows that when it comes to heinous traditions, people do not openly question it until it affects them directly. It’s a warning to all that if people do not have the courage to stand up and fight for what is right and voice their opinion the consequences could be deadly.