Blind Loyalty And Tradition In The Lottery

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Blind Loyalty and Tradition In the short story, “The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson, symbolism and characterization is used to express disloyalty and the reluctance to give up blind tradition. When Tessie is reluctant to accept her fate, her friend shouts “Be a good sport Tessie!” (Jackson 5). Mrs. Delacroix, Tessie’s best friend, is not defending her, but defending their tradition of the lottery. She would rather see her friend stoned to death than stand up for her because she, and the rest of the town, are blindly loyal to their outdated ritual. They do not mind killing their friends because it was what they always grew up doing. They draw the names out of a box, a “... black box (that) grew shabbier each year.” (2). This black box represents
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    children. The lottery is conducted by Mr. Summers who has time to organize events. He comes to the square with the black box, while Mr. Graves, the postmaster, carries the stool to put the black box on. The black box is not the original box, but it is made from “pieces of the box that had preceded it… The box grew shabbier each year; by now it was no longer completely black but splintered badly” from years of usage (Jackson 13). It is very old, but no one wants to replace it because of tradition, despite

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