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Magic and Illusion

The Lottery

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The global context has experienced an elucidated form of culture—the most obscure of them having different traditions that go into discriminating the human concept of life. Ideally, culture, on its own, plays a crucial role in influencing the way people live. With every culture comes a predefined tradition that dictates what is right and wrong. The irony in this sentiment is how people will become partakers of different traditions, not caring about their impact, whether negative or positive (contentserver.asp p.261). It forms a single concept that cannot differentiate nor alienate the idea of society and culture. Rightfully, it cannot be disputed that these two constructs determine the values of a society and their belief system. In Shirley Jackson’s short story, The Lottery, culture is a predominant theme. Although the story may seem unrealistic to the reader, the author is guided by schizophrenia, which guides her imagination through illusion. It relates to the plot of the story on the basis of perception and information processing. By this, the author does not reveal the unending of the story at the beginning. The reader is able to deduce the protagonist as the story unfolds. About this book, this paper goes ahead to enumerate various concepts.

The Lottery depicts a cultural setup that determines the specific values within the story. The barbaric treatment of women, for instance, is a major culminating issue. It speculates the cultural ideology that women have no voices within the societal framework (contentserver.asp p.263). The value of feminism comes out evidently as the story develops. Jackson writes how the tradition of the lottery had been lost over time. Despite this, people still held the notion that this value had to be initiated regardless of their belief system. The cultural set up within the story initiates the amount in which people desire to be in control, along with an erroneous concept of magic and superstition (contentserver.asp p.264). After all, traditions determine the moral concept and values. In this story, we see how the aspect of winning the lottery is valued. The people in the town are guided by fear of change to the point they would prefer continuing to practice the superstitious tradition that gamble with the repercussion. These values are critical in providing meaning as conceived by the villagers.

The lottery is widely embraced as one of the famous short stories. The interpretation of the story has otherwise been encapsulated on the idea of culture and its embodiment of traditions. In most cases, one would try to understand the concept of lottery with winning an award. In this story, its association dwells on one of the villagers being selected for sacrificial purposes. The protagonist of the story is excommunicated despite the unfair trial. Ironically, she does not object to the punishment despite not being a believer of the same tradition herself (Tpls0205 p.1026). The different changes within the story are guided by the lottery as well as the black box in which the slips are drawn. As such, they contribute to shaping the cultural ideals and expectations. The people blindly follow a tradition despite not knowing where it started from in the first place. An overview of how the townspeople would kill the selected person without caring who it is active shapes the cultural ideal. The ideals of the townspeople are cultivated on the basis that they do not know and cannot imagine a world without this tradition.

The Lottery supports conventional ideas and expectations, as illuminated by Jackson. Expectations of the ideal human life and the scapegoat forms the basis through which the author lays ideas behind the story (Tpls0205 p.1024). The story conventionally isolates and gives specifics of those ideologies which people follow blindly. Take, for instance, the conflict between the male authority in comparison to resistance from women. The major expectation, as illustrated by the author, relates to the thought of how people will forego these traditions. At the moment, several people who have abandoned the lottery and made changes regarding the same. Tessie, for instance, is regarded as the scapegoat through which exorcism is conducted. The ideals revolve around the belief that the lottery is meant to increase and maintain fertility within the town.

Jackson utilizes the concept of symbolism to illuminate a detailed and deep meaning to the reader. At the beginning of the story, the plot incorporates an emittance of foreshadowing on the symbolism structure used. Right from the title itself, one might not predict the real meaning of the title, not unless they read the story. The term Lottery holds a deep meaning to the story. In this case, it symbolizes the unquestioned rituals and traditions performed by the people. Additionally, the author associates this symbol with irony. At the beginning of the story, Jackson explains a sociable society, but later the story takes a different tragic turn when the protagonist is stoned to death. On a deeper meaning, this symbol illustrates how society has lost the urge to understand the deeper meaning behind the traditions. Another peculiar representation of symbol is through the objects used by Jackson within the story. The black box, for instance, is an essential component illustrating death about the lottery. It is through the box that the elders of the families choose slips in the first and second selection (A critique of the sampling plan used in Shirley Jackson’s Lottery p.544). In relation, the names of the characters such as Mr. and Mrs. Graves, represent death.

The Lottery plays a crucial role in influencing the formation of personal and group identity. The concept of identity shapes how people view things within society. The aspect of tradition shapes the different perspectives of everyone, including children in the town. It is seen when everyone in the town picks up a stone in preparation for the tradition. Through the story, people in the town have become uncaring humans. They do not have remorse for Tessie, who claims the action is not unfair. Even to those who show dissatisfaction, the analogy of the tradition has made them dumb to the point they cannot speak out what they think.

Different analogies within the story illuminate how culture has been incorporated to show how the townspeople adhere to these cultures. The ritual in the lottery plays a crucial role in shaping the analogy of the family. Also, the entire concept of the lottery is drawn to reify the importance of culture and traditions. The story stipulates how the father plays a vital role in controlling the family. He acts as the head who controls all the functions. Even at the ceremony, the dominance of men is well elucidated as they are prompted to pick the slips from the black box.

 

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