Shirely Jackson, writer of numerous works of art, in her short story “The Lottery” (1948) argues that tradition should not be followed in every situation where men they are always first, and women take a back seat. Jackson shows his argument with several examples that include traditional life versus newer life. He writes to audiences of all ages, as demonstrated by his writing style which can be relatable to anyone who reads his work. Jackson begins his first statement by showing that men are the heads of the house and women are put second. In the story it says: “Mr. Summers, who had time and energy to devote to civic activities." Men have higher ranks than women and are seen as the only ones capable of handling things like "The Lottery". Women are not worthy of doing a man's job. In other words, women couldn't do the same things as men because they couldn't be exactly the same as a man. This just shows the predominant aspect of living with a man in this period. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay This also seems traditional because the man is out working and the women stay at home cleaning and cooking all day. After the traditional life is seen in different ways, the author moves on to a newer life when she says it is despised. Jackson writes: “Old Warner snorted. "A bunch of crazy people," he said. “Listening to young people, it's nothing good enough for them. They were trying to say that young people always want to challenge old traditions. Young people don't always want to follow traditions when better could come. They saw the lottery as a waste of time, and others quickly realized this in the other city. Tradition is broken and the author wants this to be visible throughout the story. To close the story, Jackson argues that women are treated unfairly. "The Lottery" says, "It's not fair, it's not fair," cried Mrs. Hutchinson, and then they were upon her. In this quote the author says showing how everyone tried to hurt the woman by throwing stones at her. It is not right for a woman to be treated badly in any situation. She shouldn't have suffered, but because she made the wrong decision she is seen differently. She spoke out for what she believes in, but men look at her like she's crazy. She just wanted to be heard. Traditionally, women had to do whatever their husband said to do, whatever that was at the time. In today's society, women don't have to do everything for their husband. Tradition must always be followed, but it does not always need to be shown. Men seem to put their wife second when it doesn't always have to be that way. As time goes by, society changes and people don't like tradition so much. Women are also looked down upon for expressing their opinion. During this time, women were seen as the shadow of man. In Mrs. Jackson's short story, she wrote about the traditional ways that needed to be challenged or changed, and she supports her point when she shows the event called "The Lottery.”
tags