The plot of the story "The Lottery" takes place in a small village, in a community there everyone knows everyone. Until the very end of the story, the readers anticipate to see what the reward for the lottery is. The author, Shirley Jackson, describes the atmosphere on the day when the lottery is taking place. Everyone is happy, careless, and looks forward to the lottery. Children play happily and discuss the unimportant things, men speak about their small issues, and women speak about their everyday affairs. The author describes the origin of the black box, the way that the lottery has been conducted in the past and what has changed and what not. However, as the lottery reaches its peak, the chosen person, Tessie Hutchinson, is placed in the centre of the village square and others start to throw stones at her. Tessie won the lottery and the reward is to be stoned to death. Everyone, even people who, not so long ago chatted with Tessie cordially, without any hesitation take stones and throw at Tessie.
My favorite quote from the story is: "Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones" (Jackson, 7). I chose this quote because it depicts the meaningless of the ritual and its original purpose, but people still blindly follow its rules without any critical thought.
The theme of following blindly tradition without any critical approach can be applied to the actual radical ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) movement in Syria and Iraq. Even though there are many Islamic believers in the world, the members of ISIS army blindly follow the ancient tradition as the modern world and other Islam believers incorporate their tradition with the modern world. The outcome of their tradition can be seen on social networks where women are stoned to death just because they did not follow the rules or men who are beheaded in front of cameras. According to them, the rules must be obeyed and the one who does not obey the rules must be sacrificed for the benefit of others.
Work cited.
Jackson, Shirley. "The Lottery"
