The Lottery

1 Pages 224 Words

The damaging effects of blind adherence and religious hypocrisy are just two of the many reoccurring themes mentioned throughout the following literary pieces: “The Lottery,” “On The Road,” “A Good Man Is Hard To Find,” “Young Goodman Brown,” and “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings.” This following paper will support its thesis through the interpretations and perspectives of,
“The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, shows the damaging effects of blind adherence. In the infamous short story, an unexamined ritual has been taking place longer than living has been alive. This ritual is the stoning of one randomly selected person from town on the 27th of June. This small town continues to enact this ritual though it is considered barbaric in modern times.
To understand the present you must know the past. The original purpose of the lottery was to sacrifice to the god of the harvest. “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon,” as Old Man Warner said.(Jackson 852) However, the question at hand is, Is the ritual still necessary? According to the introduction to the story, “The flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green.”(Jackson 849) Clearly there is no need for a human sacrifice, it seems that Mother Nature is ensuring a good crop for that year. The harverst god need not be appeased....