Summary:
Reviews the short story The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson. Provies a plot summary. Comments on the plot's merits.
The Lottery
The short story "The Lottery" was about a ritual in a small town that involved human sacrifice in order to pray for rain. Even though that superstition was fiction, everyone observes certain rituals in superstitions in normal everyday life. I do not recall any particular superstitions I practice; however, I do observe some silly ones.
Why do I say they are silly? Well some of them appear in cartoons and movies that foreshadow bad luck. I do not walk under ladders. I can't say I really believe its bad luck but then again I can't really say it's safe. Supposedly walking under a ladder is bad luck because the leaning ladder forms a triangle representing The Holy Trinity, which you aren't supposed to violate. If you do you are supposedly in league with the devil.
The date Friday the thirteenth is also a superstition which I don't consider to be bad luck. For some reason everyone is scared of the number thirteen, I consider it to be a day of television. The networks always show some good monster movies all day. Also on a side note, why where all of the Jason hack and slash movies called Friday the thirteenth? Those movies also fuel the superstition, even though they are terrible attempts at horror movies.
But getting away from the bad luck superstitions, I believe the absolute masters at rituals are pro athletes. Almost all baseball players have certain routines they go through before a game. Some don't wash their hats for the whole season which is supposed to represent good luck. Players like Nomar Garciaparra have routines they go through while they are batting, like constantly resizing the batting gloves. Professional athletes are the people to talk to if you need to do a school project on superstitions or rituals.
Just like the short story "The Lottery" our modern day lives are filled with superstitions and rituals. Many people don't believe in them or think they are foolish, but they are still following them because they just can't avoid them.
This is the complete article, containing 339 words
(approx. 1 page at 300 words per page).
