The Lottery "The Lottery," by Shirley Jackson (1948) is presented with the contention that the town is extremely superstitious, the townspeople adhere to tradition unconsciously out of habit as a consequence the leaders participate in a conspiracy to control the community which is a clear argument of the misuse of tradition to control the townspeople. The story, told in past tense, and uses a third person as the narrator. The narrator does not have a character. …showed first 75 words of 805 total…

…showed last 75 words of 805 total…the post office" (273). and "it was set on a shelf in the Martin grocery" (273). For this reason I believe there is evidence of a misuse by the town leaders of this tradition. In conclusion the townspeople are very gullible in the fact that they believe in this ritual, as well as blindly following the community leaders scheme in order to maintain and pay tribute to ritual is in itself a misuse of tradition. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**