Theme of Acceptance in The Lottery and Without Title Literary Analysis Essay

📌Category: Literature, Poems, Shirley Jackson, Writers
📌Words: 750
📌Pages: 3
📌Published: 30 April 2022

Barbara Jordan states, “We, as human beings, must be willing to accept people who are different from ourselves,” however, this isn’t something countless people follow. To better explain this idea two pieces will be used,“Without Title” a poem by Diane Glancy and a short story by Shirley Jackson called “The Lottery”. In “ Without Title,” the text shows us how important it is to keep your culture alive, especially in an environment that isn’t as accepting or limits connection. In “The Lottery” people adhere to a tradition so they will be accepted socially even if the tradition is immoral. The essay will elaborate more on the idea of acceptance and what people will do to gain acceptance to survive. 

Sometimes in society people perform unethical actions to blend in. “The Lottery'' shows how people follow a perverse tradition so they aren’t seen as outcasts.  While they are not sure what happens to individuals who do not follow the tradition, the fear is enough to force them to follow.  While this community is continuing the tradition, other communities have stopped.  These communities are seen as a “Pack of crazy fools [.]”( Jackson, 194). There are still some who do not agree, moreover the majority of the people in the community continue the tradition. An example of this is Mrs.Dunbar; who doesn’t accept the lottery, and chooses to not participate in the actions of this tradition, as eager as the others.  As seen at the end of the story, Mrs.Dunbar states, “You’ll have to go ahead and I’ll catch up.”(Jackson, 319), while everyone was selecting a rock and running towards Mrs. Hutchinson. While Mrs.Dunbar has her own beliefs which are not the same as the majority, she goes along in order to be accepted in society. In a sense, Mrs.Dunbar accepts those that do not accept her, showing that society as a whole can be contradictory to individual human beliefs. 

Today, countless individuals find themselves adapting to their environment in order to be accepted and for their own survival. The poem talks about a father and how he migrated to a new city where keeping his connection with his culture was challenging. He began losing his connection and started assimilating to be able to survive in this city. He does things such as acquire a job at a “packing house”(Glancy, 10) so he can provide for his family since hunting and the other cultural ways of life were difficult to practice in such an urbanized area. One of the reasons why he wasn’t able to keep his cultural identity is this new environment, but also the lack of support and acceptance. The speaker's mother states in an argument with her father, “get rid of them.”(Glancy, 13), when talking about the horns and hides the father brings home from work. His wife was also trying to dismiss his pursuit of keeping his connection in new ways. This shows how an environment and people that aren’t accepting can lead to a loss of cultural identity. 

In both pieces of literature, we are introduced to two different environments and circumstances, but the result is similar. Two characters are seen adapting to societies that are not accepting so they can survive and not be seen as outcasts. In “The Lottery,” Mrs.Dunbar adapts by walking slowly and not being as eager to participate. She may not be able to speak up about how she sees the lottery as immoral, but she finds ways to participate in a lesser manner, such as when “Mrs.Dunbar had small stones[.]”(Jackson, 317). In “Without Title,” the father adapts to this new community where he can’t depend on his old ways of living to get by. He also has to learn he can’t do things like, “ he brought horns and hides[.]”(Glancy, 11). He understands and accepts the fact he has to begin assimilating if he wants to be able to survive and provide for his family. This causes a loss of connection between his culture but it’s still with him just hidden deep. 

“The Lottery” and “Without Title” are perfect examples of how society can limit cultural diversity and ideas. There’s always this idea that human beings have the right to express their opinion and practice their culture, but these two pieces of literature show us that all people don’t have the same mindset. An individual sometimes may be put into a position where you can’t speak your mind or practice your culture and traditions. Societies must change, if there is always this limitation on what people can say or practice people would have very similar mindsets and won’t be able to grow. If everyone has similar mindsets and those who don’t are scared to speak up the world will never change or develop. Human beings have to be accepted so that they can grow and prosper in a healthy environment.

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