the kids were gone, and I remembered it was the twenty-seventh and came a-running.” (Jackson 423) The people have engaged in this tradition for so long that they look to the lottery day as if it were any regular day, forgetting that one of their own is to be sentenced to death. “Well now,” Mr. Summers said soberly, “guess we better get started, get this over with, so’s we can get back to work.” (Jackson 424) Hurrying the lottery, Summers doesn’t even stop to think of the death involved with the lottery. His concern is that the event be hurried so they may get back to work. They once again seem to show a sort of blindness. Though a sense of guilt can seen, through Summer’s want to hurry with the lottery so they can get it out of the way and be at ease, his comment about getting back to their work suggests ignorance. We turn to tradition as a source of happiness. The town turns to tradition as a source of survival not truly grasping consequences. Though their behavior appears to be rather ridiculous, their reasoning is valid. They cannot allow themselves to withdraw from the tradition because they do not know any other way. Can you imagine what life would be if there were no Christmas or Thanksgiving? For many cultures, tradition is the basis for their history. One example to this being the Hawaiian culture whose history was destroyed when they were forced to stop their ancient dances which told stories of their past. Adversely, tradition has played negative roles in society as well with the battle between the Muslims and Christians in many middle-eastern countries. Tradition plays many roles in today’s society. Our goal should be to grasp the idea of what they really mean. We must not isolate ourselves to what we think we know, but instead allow ourselves to comprehend....
