The Lottery By Shirley Jackson
Essay by 24 • May 5, 2011 • 328 Words (2 Pages) • 2,113 Views
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson tells us about the absurdness of blind obedience.
The story begins when the people of the village began to gather in the square. Some of
the children are gathering stones. The narrator was like making a warning earlier in the
story by mentioning the pile of stones and the way the older people distance themselves
from it. "They stood together, away from the pile of stones in the corner, and their jokes
were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed." For me, she was telling us readers that
something that's not right is going to happen. At the end of the story it was confirmed
that this is a annual ritual in which villagers draw paper slips in the black box to select
one member of the village. This person is used as their offering so that they will have a
happy and profitable year for the village. It is their tradition, that's why the villagers
don't want to cease it and they have faith that if they continue the ritual they will have an
advantageous year. But throughout the story there are some people who have looked at
the other side and believe that perhaps their tradition is not really a good habit. Mr.
Adams said that in some places they are talking of giving up the lottery and some places
already
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