“The Lottery” is a story that features a ritual that most readers would condemn; by featuring such a ritual, what is Shirley Jackson saying about ritual in general?
For this assignment, you are expected to engage closely and analytically with the text of “The Lottery” but also connect that short story’s examination of ritual to a modern-day ritual or tradition that you think needs reexamination. Implicit in this question is also a consideration of “tradition” and “heritage” and how those notions can warp one’s objectivity.
Your essay may wish to approach the short story or the wider issue of ritual from an historical, psychological, anthropological, literary or sociological perspective.
Sample Solution
