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Keeping Tradition In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

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How far would you go to keep tradition going? In the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson tradition plays a major role. The characters in this ironic story take keeping tradition to another level. Old Man Warner who is the “oldest man in town” says that there is an old saying that states, “lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.” The lottery is an event that occurs place every year. Basically everyone in their village assembles and someone's life is sacrificed for their harvest. Each family has one person to draw for their family. If a person draws the white paper that has a black dot on it, then everyone in their family has to draw. Finally, the family member that draws the paper with the dot gets stoned. Ultimately this short story is full of characters such as, Mrs. Delacroix and Tessi Hutchinson, who are good and evil natured. …show more content…
Delacroix appears to be very sweet and friendly. When Tessi finally gets to the square where the lottery takes place, they greet each other and laugh quietly about a statement Tessi makes. She appears to be a bit scared when her husband goes up to pick their paper. The story says that she “held her breath while her husband went forward.” She appears to be a pretty good, normal person in the beginning. After Tessi gets picked for the lottery and they are going to stone her, she tells Mrs. Dunbar to “hurry up” and “come on.” She picks up the largest stone as well. So in the end, does she sound like such a nice person after

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