Our Ritual Compared to "The Lottery"

The people in “The Lottery”, written by Shirley Jackson, are very strong on tradition. They don't like changing things and would rather just go along with the known than venture out and cause trouble trying to find the unknown. Old Man Warner shows this kind of thinking by saying, “there's always been a lottery” (408). People who have grown up with certain events and rituals like to leave them alone. They seem to have a “if it's not broke, don't fix it” sort of attitude.

One situation that is somewhat similar to that of the lottery, yet much less violent, is speeding while driving. Of course speeding is not to the same extreme as stoning someone to death, it is still illegal, and thus, wrong. Throughout the history of driving, I'm sure speeding has occurred. Although we have State Patrol and police officers trying to enforce the speed limit, people knowingly and intentionally speed. Rather than trying to stop everyone from speeding, people just go along with the flow and speed. Speeding is never really put into the spotlight unless it is the cause of an accident or death, but even with that people continue to engage in it. No on ever thinks they will be the one involved in a car accident due to speed, but it definitely can happen. People account for this behavior by thinking only a couple miles an hour over the speed limit won't hurt. That may be true until it gets out of control. Though speeding can be seemingly harmless and just a way to get from point A to point B faster, no one tries to change it. As in “The Lottery,” people just continue doing the same thing instead of being the one to make a change, knowing it is wrong.