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Hey there! Welcome to my blog. I will be mainly using this blog to complete my english assignment, but I will use it for other things too. I hope you enjoy reading!

English ISU- Introduction

The story I picked for my ISU is The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson. I chose it because of the theme, which is “the dangers of blindly following traditions (common widespread behaviours)”. In the story, the village holds the lottery every year to see who would be stoned to death, rather than winning money. This was a very old tradition and as Old Man Warner said, “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.” This meant that if they sacrificed somebody in June, then the crops would prosper and be ready to harvest later on. This tradition has been going on for so long that there isn’t a time that anyone can remember that it didn’t happen. So everyone follows it just because of the fact that it has always happened. This need to follow tradition is also depicted when the villagers don’t change the black box even though it’s falling apart. As the theme suggests, the villagers blindly follow the tradition of the lottery without question. I chose three texts to explore the thematic connections. The first text I chose was a picture of people burning “witches” at the stake. The thematic link between The Lottery and this image is that in both cases they kill someone because people believed that they needed to be killed for the better. The second text I chose was a play called Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Between these two texts, the thematic link is that in both stories is that the people do things just because things have been always like that. Finally, the last text I chose is a Youtube clip of sati pratha. Sati pratha is an old tradition where a widow commits suicide by burning herself alive and even if the widow doesn’t want to kill herself, she is forced too. Just like in The Lottery, the old tradition is kept going for many years and not questioned.

Burning Witches at the Stake

The image below shows people burning a “witch” at the stake. In Europe during the 16th Century, hunting witches had become a common practice. If somebody accused you of practicing witchcraft and a thousand people agreed you would be burned alive. Innocent people died during this time, especially women. This was a common widespread behaviour just like in The Lottery, where they choose a person to sacrifice so the crops grow. Sacrificing people and hunting witches are both traditions which kill innocent people.

Romeo and Juliet

I also chose a play from Shakespeare called Romeo and Juliet. In this play there are two households, the Capulets and Montagues, that are enemies. They fight with each other because of an ancient grudge. However, no one knows why there is a grudge in the first place. So they keep on fighting and being enemies because that’s how it has always been. In The Lottery the same thing occurs. The villagers conduct the lottery every year, no questions asked, because that’s how it has always been. In both situations they accept it and follow the “tradition”, until it affects them. For example, Tess Hutchinson participated in the tradition of the lottery until she was picked to be sacrificed. Only then did she open her eyes to the horrible reality of the tradition. The same goes for Romeo in Romeo and Juliet. He accepted the fact that Capulets and Montagues were enemies, that’s why he went to crash the Capulet party in the first place, before he met Juliet. When he fell in love and came to know she was from the Capulet family, he then realized that the ancient grudge was not worth fighting for.

Link for online version of Romeo and Juliet:

http://shakespeare.mit.edu/romeo_juliet/full.html

Sati Pratha

Sati pratha is a suicide ritual that some Hindus practice. When the husband dies of an unnatural cause the wife would have to jump into the fire that is being used to cremate the husband. This is a very old tradition, and if the widow did not want to kill herself, she would be forced to by the people of the town. In The Lottery, the villagers also followed an old tradition which involved the death of a person. In both texts the people were forced to follow through with the tradition. For example, sometimes a widow would not want to kill herself but she was forced to. In The Lottery, Tess Hutchinson did not think the lottery was fair and didn’t want to die, but the villagers still stoned her to death, because it was part of the tradition.