Henry S. Haskins once said, “Tradition is a prison in which majority opinion is the modern jailer.” The quote is related to the short story "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson because the tradition is substantial and important to their community. They have been part of the lottery for years, even though some people might want to break with tradition, they will never break with tradition because this is what they know, and it has always been that way. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The story is based on a small community and every year a lottery is organized by drawing the card from a black box whoever receives the card with the black dot on it must be stoned by everyone in the town. The Lottery theme shown throughout the story is "we" do things out of habit even though it can be harmful; the story shows great symbolism of tradition in the use of stones as a weapon and in the meaning of the black box to the people of the country. In writing the story Shirley Jackson made tradition the driving purpose. When Jackson wrote the story, the time frame was very significant to the way the story was written. The story was written around the time of World War II and at that time people had the mentality of "if it's not me I'm not worried". Speaking of which.' For example, the world knew that concentration camps were being created by Hitler, but did not try to do anything to prevent this from leading to the extinction of 6 million Jews; and the United States didn't want to get involved until the bombing of Pearl Harbor, instead they wanted to remain neutral until "they" were injured in combat. Compared to the story, they [the people of the country] had the same mentality as if it was laissez faire, if a person in their family did not pull the paper with the black dot they enjoyed stoning the person who did. For example, when the town realized in the final drawing that Tessie was the one who ultimately drew the black dot, they were all quick to take the stones and happily stone her because they weren't in her predicament. Equally important were the great forms of symbolism linked to tradition, especially in the use of stones as a murder weapon, different from anything else that could possibly be used in that time zone. The stones are used to show an act of violence because the children stack the stones at first and then contribute to the end of the lottery with the adults by stoning another. Stones in history were used by groups of people banding together to kill another, meaning there is no executioner. In relation to tradition, in early Christianity a community got rid of a stranger through collective punishment with stoning. Another reason why the stones show great significance is because they were the first murder weapons used by early humans for violent rituals. Another way Jackson shows tradition in the lottery is through the black box. The black box is old and made of pieces of the previous box, they say, and the city's population has grown instead of drawing the original wood chips, the city's people draw paper. The black box represents the physical link between the inhabitants of the country and their tradition. They are not willing to let him go even though they fear the outcome. Honestly, the box itself has no meaning until lottery day. For example, "The black box spent a year in Mr. Graves' stable and another year underfoot in the post office...". The box has no physical meaning, but it has an attachment.