Once upon a time, in a civilization a long time ago, men were burnt at temples as an offering to the gods. These people assumed that offerings would help their civilization prosper into greatness. Today, this is seen as quite unnecessary due to the advancements in technology and understanding. Although some of the past traditions have been erased, a considerable amount of more impactful traditions are still passed down from one generation to the next. The short story The Lottery written by Shirly Jackson is about an ancient tradition passed down from many centuries. This tradition, called the lottery, involves a person from a village being chosen to be stoned to death. Despite the harsh measurements of cruelty, these people still agree to continue the tradition. Traditions pass down even when considering their cruelty because they help people remember the past and also it will slowly become a habit.
In one of Jacqueline Woodson’s Ted Talks, she explained how books are used to display the story, memories, or feelings of someone’s life. The events in books are to be remembered and passed down. A tradition is similar to a book. It is an event, instead of a story, and is used as a means to pass down beliefs instead of stories. In the short story, the act of stoning one to death is still accepted because they do not want to forget it. A grumpy old man in the story always says how the tradition used to be better before, and the narrator also explains how the pieces of wood used in the tradition were replaced by wood, and the box was changed too. When these two events are placed together, it is obvious that the man does not want people to forget the tradition. Remembrance also helps people see progress. When looking back at the caveman times of killing men for help, one can see the true development of society. Not remembering the past provides nothing for people to compare their progress to. Without remembering traditions, history will also slowly start to become irrelevant because nobody cares about the past anymore, and many people only care about what happens next. Passing down traditions is important in order to remember the past.
The setting all throughout the story is composed of many occurrences such as good weather, children playing, and adults chatting. All of these lead to the fact that the village is happy for this tradition to occur, and it is just like any other day. A happy setting during a time where someone will be killed doesn’t seem so right to real-life people, but it seems absolutely normal to the characters in the story. This is because this tradition has been continued for so long in this world, it is barely even noticed. In fact, the level of noticeably is so low, even committing such a “terrible” act, stoning someone, seems normal. Additionally, even the family and friends were happy when stoning their life-long connections apart. In order for such a cruel act to even occur, it has to have meaning during its origin. The most likely cause of creation for the lottery was a way to choose someone to offer to the gods without bias. During these olden times, this way of action seemed reasonable, and as time passes on, the following generations will think the same. A few thousand years ago, the earliest humans probably did not think marriage was something normal to do, but people today see it as completely normal. People living in a future world where eating is unnecessary might think that people eating three meals a day was strange. Since humans primarily judge events based on changes, It is frightening how such a terrifying tradition can eventually become a habit.
In conclusion, most traditions will pass down forever and ever. Traditions help civilizations remember their past and their progression. Traditions might also eventually become a habit, which if it does becomes almost impossible to remove. Carlos Fuentes, a Mexican Novelist once said, “There is no creation without tradition; the ‘new’ is an infection on a proceeding form; novelty is always a variation from the past.” Without the creations of traditions, the human progression would be immeasurable and stories of the past would be forgotten.