Wednesday, September 18, 2013
The Lottery
Here is a link to an online version of the short story, The Lottery. This short story raises a lot of questions about the roll that society plays in forming ideas about human rights. Our class discussion of the death penalty and how our opinions can change about it based on how it effects us made me initially think of this story. Hope you enjoy it!
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Something that was brought up in class today was how people will often defend their culture before they will defend their individual rights. I think that this story exhibits that very well: these people accept the tradition of the lottery simply because it is such a long-standing tradition. They are not necessarily thinking about their right to life in this context because they have been brought up in a culture that prioritizes this tradition; therefore, their ideas about their rights are founded upon that culture and its prioritization of the lottery tradition over people's individual right to life.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. It also brings up the idea that it is easier for a society to simply uphold traditions instead of updating their laws and customs to comply with modernization. Due to the fact that the town had done the lottery for so many years, it makes it harder for people to question whether or not they are encroaching upon the rights of humans by utilizing this cruel behavior towards them. We live in a world where people are constantly gaining rights (women’s rights, gay rights) and society’s traditions should reflect that.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I don’t know if anyone has ever read the novel Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, but it also deals with the idea that people will not question traditions because they have never done things any other way.