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Submitted by tamian on February 22, 2005
Category: English
Words: 1132 | Pages: 5
Views: 189
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The Lottery" and Religious Tradition
While "The Lottery" is a fictitious story it can be argued that it mirrors the attitude of American culture in how it addresses religious tradition in its major holidays and celebrations.
Two of the biggest holidays in the United States are Christmas and Easter. Both of which are derived from Christian beliefs. Even though "The Lottery" is apparently a pagan ritual, violent and horrific, it is appropriate, only by the fact that the participants no longer remember, or seem to care, what the original intent of the ritual or the significance of its traditions.
When we are introduced to the lottery, we see the traditions that are currently observed. These include the townspeople gathering in the square, the children gathering rocks and making piles of them. A black box is the current receptacle for the lots to be drawn: "The original paraphernalia for the lottery had been lost long ago, and the black box now resting on the stool had been put to use even before Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town, was born." (Jackson 367).
The story belies the villagers respect for tradition. The lottery official was said to have spoken "frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box." (Jackson 367) We know that the black box was not the original vessel for the lottery. Many changes and omissions from lotteries past also, speak of the villagers' apathy for tradition.
Some changes were out of necessity, "slips of paper substituted for the chips of wood that were used for generations" (Jackson 367) due to the fact that the population size of the village had grown from the original lottery. This made the use of the wood chips unpractical.
Other changes took place, it would seem, just to make the lottery go faster.
"there had been a recital of some sort, performed by the official of the...
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