Essay About Short Story And Small Town

Self Reliance
Essay Preview: Self Reliance
Report this essay
Having faith either in ones self or traditional practices is the definition of
being self-reliant. However it is not always easy to make the right decision and to
decide whether to follow ones heart or not. The society was and will always put a
lot of pressure on people, which will affect their decision. Shirley Jackson and
Sophocles are two authors that demonstrated the importance of following ones
intuition or heart.
In her short story “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson illustrates how important
and respected were traditions in communities .The story is about an ordinary
small town that happens to hold an annual lottery. However, you later find out
that the winner of the lottery is stoned to death by the rest of the town .Tradition
seems very important in this community, although the black box they used for
this ritual has become worn , they refuse to replace it; ” Mr. Summers spoke
frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset
even as much tradition as was represented by the black box.” (Jackson, 132 ) .
In this story, Jackson shows how much the community respects the
tradition that has been going around for years. The practice of this lottery seems
to be something totally normal for the community and no one seems to be
opposed to it. Why would anyone say anything if everybody seemed to view this
practice as normal and traditional ?
The inhabitant of this community were being self-reliant in having faith in the
tradition but they were not having faith in themselves . Most of the people in the
community probably knew that this ritual was wrong, mostly because other
community stopped practicing it but also because when one witnesses a family
member being stoned, he or she unconsciously knows that it is wrong. So
shouldnt they speak up? Shouldnt they try to stop that ritual? They were
pressured by the rest of the community and the fear of being different or
excluded was the reason of their silence. However wouldnt it be worthy to speak
up in order to save lives?
In his play entitled “Antigone”, Sophocles suggests that if a person
believed something to be right, then her or she should follow their heart,
even if they need to break the law. King Creon decrees that Polynices the
traitor is not to be buried, but his sister Antigone defies the order.
She is caught, and sentences by Creon to be buried alive, even though she is
betrothed to his son Haemon. After the blind prophet Tiresias proves that the
gods are on Antigones side, Creon changes his mind but it is too later. He goes
first to bury Polynices, but Antigone has already hanged herself.