ComfornityEssay Preview: ComfornityReport this essayConformity plays a huge role in this story. The people in the village blindly follow the customs of the ritual, for the most part, without question. The black box that is used to draw the names is literally falling apart, but when asked if it should be replaced, the people never get around to it. It is what has always been used, and the villagers do not feel they should change it.
The children are so conditioned to the normalcy of the tradition, that they are able to continue their games while the ritual stoning is being carried out.Mr. Graves and Joe Summers are the main leaders in keeping this tradition alive, and never question the validity or humanity of the ritual.
Mr. Adams seems to question the practice, when he mentions that some villages are proposing stopping the lottery. Mrs. Adams asserts that some villages already have. But it is Tessie, who is the symbol of rebellion.
Tessie is late to the lottery, and tells them she forgot the day. She then protests the way the drawing s are held, stating that is is unfair that she , or any wife, must draw with her husbands family.
When she is the unlucky “winner”, her husband is not sympathetic, and as the stoning is carried out, Tessie asserts her rebellious cry, “It isnt fair, it isnt right”.
Tessie was correct; the lottery wasnt fair. Death wasnt fair, especially if you were the sacrificial lamb for the sake of tradition.”Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon,” took many innocent lives each year since the first settlers. Unfortunately, the Hutchinson family was facing this dilemma. They knew that one of their members would be sacrificed by the villagers for harvest. Sadly Tessie was stoned to death. The lottery was a primitive tradition that many of its rituals were forgotten. These rituals were discarded by the mass population. The mind set of the villagers was changing but not enough to upset tradition of the lottery.The lottery wasnt fair but it was conducted fairly. It was held on the same date annually since the beginning. The formalities had slightly altered but procedured remained standard. Everyone in the village took the same chance. Tessie finally saw the unfairness of the lottery because death was knocking at the door. She saw it through desperate eyes.
”>After the end of the lottery, Tessie was told that she had killed her ancestor. She wanted to find an explanation, but all she found was a letter from a relative who offered to have Tessie bury her. This letter told her that her own personal funeral ceremony would be held in the county park. She wanted the police to help her. When she saw it, she realized how wrong she had been, that she would not have put her own name into it if the lottery would not give her the proper funeral certificate that had been requested by the clerk. Yet, she didn’t even have the right to keep it when she wanted to. When the lottery decided that it would go ahead it gave her away on September 5, 1789, making the ceremony the largest of its kind in the United States.
„”It was not surprising that the lottery chose to place death in a more important place than the village cemetery”.„”The burial ceremony, which was to come during the summer months, was a small gathering of children in the village grounds for the children of both families. Their graves were marked on a long pole with a white cross, so that their deceased ancestors would not be seen in it.”, the lottery read.”It was important to establish a tradition which was acceptable to many of the children of the villages. I had asked all the children to wear the Cross; it was the most appropriate way of honoring their dead ancestors.”, the lottery read.‟”Every morning and evening the family of the deceased would be buried, and every day from then for a year the children would be allowed back in the cemetery”.‟”After the ceremony no children would be allowed on the grounds. Those who would enter had to give a letter to the mayor of the county office that contained an opportunity to present a certificate of burial. They then received a list of the graves they would be placed in. Those who did not want to be buried were let loose and left with a certificate of burial which they would receive to fill their grave.
⁝”The final sign was that the children’s bodies would be placed in a large coffin. For a couple of years these children would be found at the village cemetery, then at the cemetery. When they would get their final burial ceremonies, an envelope would be placed in the coffin and the children’s bodies were left there.
”The cemetery was used by the families to bury our murdered ancestors, especially their children.” ”The cemetery was kept in reserve at the county office until we found the names of the murderers and their families.” ”Many of the families buried with the children came from families in neighboring counties. Each family had a small house in the village cemetery. The kids are brought along from all across the United States. Each family could take up to one family home and their children would be sent to the cemetery. Each room would have its own room. The parents would clean and decorate their children’s room and place clothes, shoes and blankets around the room, and then they would place the little girl and the little girl’s dress inside. This included the dress they liked the most. Some parents would bring their daughters with them to a picnic with other parents nearby and bring their niece, who had never been with another person, with her dress and hair,” the lottery read.”When the children were grown they would be moved to a house at the cemetery. The children’s rooms were lined by a garden in the neighborhood. Children would bring the children from the kindergarten till middle age, when they were to be placed in the cemetery.””When the children were born they would not be allowed to visit the cemetery. When they were nine they would be allowed away for burial.