Rumor has it that once upon a time, a daughter asked her mother why she always cut off the ends of her ham before baking it. The answer? “I’m not sure. It’s how my mother always did it.”
This became a curiouser and curiouser issue. Upon researching the reason why the ends of the ham were cut upon baking, a grandmother gave the answer, “Because my pan was too short.”
"The Lottery," by Shirley Jackson, makes me think of all of the dumb things we do because of tradition. Do we not stop to question why we do them?
This story is the epitome of stupid traditions. Each year, each person in the community, young or old, drew a slip of paper from a black box. Whoever drew the slip with the back DOT was stoned to death. Why? So that the corn crop would be good that year.
Shirley Jackson was not a prolific writer of hit stories. BUT she hit the mark with this one. This story helps us do some quality deep thinking with one word: “Why?”
By the way, it has been written that Shirley Jackson once said she was a self-proclaimed, practicing witch.
Curiouser and curiouser.
Read the full version of "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson: https://www.cusd200.org/cms/lib/IL01001538/Centricity/Domain/361/jackson_lottery.pdf