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Sarah S.
English 102
Dr. Bruce R. Magee
Paper #2 Fiction
THE LOTTERY
Two days ago a person in Pennsylvania gunned down 12 people because he felt that he
had been teased too much about not being about to speak English very well. We all say, "How
can that happen?" Every person who commits a horrible act such as these always has an excuse.
"I lost my job.", "I was being bullied.", "My wife was leaving me with the kids." Jackson's "The
Lottery" is no different. No one in the story looked at the act. They looked at the reason they felt
they had to do it. The reason becomes an excuse for the act. The story is a simple parable about a
“thoughtless” tradition, selfishness, and pure evil that is justified by the good of the town.
The first concept to address in "The Lottery" is that of tradition or ritual. Rituals, such as
marriage rites or family traditions can be harmless, but when generations of people just keep
doing something without ever asking why, tradition can become very evil. Every June 27th
without fail the townspeople gather in the center of the city to have a lottery. They have forgotten
why the box that holds the names of the citizens looks like it does or why one person is supposed
to say this or that. They have "just always done it that way." The people never question if the
lottery is fair, necessary, or just. The answer is always the same: we will keep doing it just as our
ancestors did it. All the families get with their families and they stand in front of a bunch of
stones that have been gathered, as always, ahead of time. The children don't seem to realize the
