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Essay / Criticism of Tradition in The Lottery by Shirely Jackson
Shirely Jackson, author of numerous works of art, in his short story "The Lottery" (1948), argues that tradition should not be followed in all situations where men are always first, and women take second place. Jackson shows his argument with different examples that include traditional versus newer life. She writes for audiences of all ages, as demonstrated by her writing style which can be associated with anyone who reads her work. Jackson begins his first statement by showing that men are the heads of households and women come second. In the short story it says: "Mr. Summers, who had time and energy to devote to civic activities." Men have higher ranks than women, and they are the only ones who can handle things like "the lottery". Women are not worthy to do a man's job. In other words, women could not do the same things as men because they were not allowed to be exactly equal to a man. This only shows the predominant side of living with a man during this time. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay It also seems traditional because the man works outside and the women stay at home cleaning and cooking all day. After seeing traditional life in different forms, the author moves to a newer life when she says it is looked down upon. Jackson writes: “Old Man Warner sniffed. “A bunch of crazy people,” he said. “Listening to young people, nothing is good enough for them. They were trying to say that young people always want to question old traditions. Young people don't always want to follow traditions when better things could happen to them. They considered the lottery a waste of time and others soon realized this. Tradition is broken and the author wants this to be seen throughout the short story. To conclude this short story, Jackson states that women are treated unfairly. “The Lottery” said: “It’s not fair, it’s not fair,” Mrs. Hutchinson shouted, and then they rushed at her. In this quote the author shows how everyone tried to hurt the woman by throwing stones at her. It is not fair for a woman to be mistreated in any situation. She shouldn't have suffered, but because she made the wrong decision, she is viewed differently. She stood up for what she believed in, but men looked at her like she was crazy. She just wanted to be heard. Traditionally, women were expected to do whatever their husband told them to do, no matter what was happening at the time. In today's society, women should not do everything for their husbands. Tradition is always respected, but it is not always necessary to show it. Men seem to put their women first when that doesn't have to be the case every time. As time passes, society changes and people don't like tradition as much. Women are also looked down upon for speaking their minds. At that time, women were considered the shadows of men. In Ms. Jackson's short story, she wrote about traditional methods that needed to be challenged or changed, and she makes her point when she shows the event titled "The Lottery »..”