A couple of major themes of this story have to do with the subject of tradition. First, the story conveys that people do not like to go against tradition, even if they do not particularly care for the tradition itself. The narrator says that when Mr. Summers spoke to the town about making a new black box for use during the lottery, people responded poorly because "no one liked to upset even as much tradition...
A couple of major themes of this story have to do with the subject of tradition. First, the story conveys that people do not like to go against tradition, even if they do not particularly care for the tradition itself. The narrator says that when Mr. Summers spoke to the town about making a new black box for use during the lottery, people responded poorly because "no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box." Despite the fact that it's literally just a painted wooden box, and a box that has splintered and cracked and faded over the years, people are resistant to replacing it because it's the only box they really remember ever using. This notion seems pretty ridiculous: they are so stuck in their ways that they cannot see the value in replacing a "shabby" wooden box.
Second, the story conveys the theme that traditions should continually be evaluated for their cultural relevance and humanity. Clearly, this tradition of choosing one person to stone every month is inhumane and does nothing to better the community. There's talk, we learn, of another town over discontinuing their lottery, and so we know that such a reevaluation can take place. We surmise by the cruel way Tessie Hutchinson is stoned to death by her friends and family that such a reevaluation would be positive and right.
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