Skipping Stones

Skipping Stones

           

            When I first started reading Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, I didn’t know what to expect at the end, in fact I was caught off guard by the ending. Once the ending occurred, it brought up both confusions and questions as to what happened and why it happened. It is interesting to see both the mob mentality and ignorance that occurs in the story. No one in the town knows why the lottery is held; they just know that they’re supposed to do it because it’s always been done. When someone mentions that surrounding towns no longer hold the lottery, several of the townspeople react to the news like it’s blasphemy. The town also no longer has the original black box, they’re forgotten what the chant is that goes along with the lottery. It’s sad to see that they have forgotten the meaning behind the tradition they just do it, granted it’s grotesque. Everyone in the town is okay with what happens until it occurs to them, and then, I would assume that they react much like Tessie did when she found out that she was going to be stoned, and there is irony in that situation. Despite the situation, in a sense, is fair, Tessie protests that it isn’t fair. Which made me think, would she still protest that it was not fair if it was someone besides her being stoned? Something leads me to believe that she would be okay with it. There is also irony in how Old Man Warner is so faithful to the tradition that he fears the villagers will return to primitive times if they stop holding the lottery, when in fact the whole idea of the lottery is primitive. I also feel that “The Lottery” shows the danger of blindly following tradition. It is important to understand why a tradition happens, or else something as terrible as ritual murder becomes a part of the fabric of the society.