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The Significance Of Changes In The Lottery - Online Term Paper

The Significance Of Changes In The Lottery

In “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson shows that times change and that people, sometimes, get trapped in tradition, forgetting to update their rituals to make them apply to their present lives. She uses Old Man Warner as a symbol of tradition that will not change. The black box with paper slips and the “lost” “original paraphernalia” for the lottery symbolize the trapping of tradition and the changes over time. The comments made by Mrs. Delacroix and Mrs. Graves to Tessie symbolizes the meaning lost over time. Another method that Shirley uses to show the loss of meaning over time is seen when she states that the villages forgot the ritual and cut some parts out.
Old Man Warner symbolizes ...

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Even with a stickler over tradition around, the story plot shows that things would change with time. Mr. Summers used paper slips to draw instead of wood chips. His excuse for the change was the increase in population and lack of space in the black box for “all those wood chips.” Therefore, they did modernize part of the tradition; they just did not question the meaning and modernize it in the more significant areas.
At one time, cutting out some of the ritual and some comments made to Tessie suggest that meanings change with different time periods. They had cut out the “recital of some sort, performed by the official of the lottery, a perfunctory, tuneless chant that had been rattled off duly each year; some people believed that the official lottery used to stand just so when he said or sang it, others believed that he was supposed to walk among the people.” Also, the comments made to Tessie suggest that the lottery is a game that must be played every June. They will not allow ...

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The Significance Of Changes In The Lottery. (2007, August 22). Retrieved June 15, 2025, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Significance-Of-Changes-In-Lottery/69987

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 8/22/2007 03:05:22 PM
Category: English
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 494
Pages: 2

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