There are numerous “traditions”
that we don’t even recognize existing because they have been there for such a
long time. We just follow them as everybody else does. But if we look more deeply
on these seemingly traditional affairs, we can easily figure out the illogic
they bear inside. “The Lottery” by Jackson depicts one of the traditional
situations that have been rooted in all human beings since long time ago.
“The Lottery” that people are doing
in the story is basically choosing one person and sacrificing him or her as a
“tradition” of the town. Old people in town basically force villagers to follow
the rule and the villagers are deferential to do so, primarily because the rule
has existed for years. However, Tessie, who was chosen as the
sacrificed-for-the-day, becomes unruly when it comes to the last moment of
execution. She probably would have been tractable on the rule if she weren’t
the one selected, though. When she goes against following “the tradition”, town
people don’t try to listen to her obstreperous excuses and eventually kill her.
Although it sounds very antiquated
of a tradition to realize that it still exists, “the tradition” is nowadays extant
everywhere. People have tendencies to be desirous of sacrificing one person by
no logical means. They just do that because they feel like doing so and to feel
secure. People feel pleased and superior by dominating others. Since it’s hard
for them to be in dominance just by themselves alone, they generally try to get
allies by a so-called unification with others. In that way, they not only feel
that they are superior to those whom they sacrificed, but also consider their
actions as “great achievements” by the allies. This kind of actions leads them to
feel more united and safe in the community they belong to.
As people have motivations for
sacrifice to feel pleasure, media constantly uses this phenomenon as a
stratagem for more industrious development of their companies. They incessantly
spread rumors about assiduous celebrities first to get more attention and
eventually to sacrifice them for the “hedonists.” In the “South Farm,” Britney
Spears was epitomized explicitly as a character that should be sacrificed by
the mass. Recently in Korea, there has been a similar phenomenon going on for
the girl-singing-group called Tiara. Though there is no unequivocal evidence
for anyone to assume the rumor to be true, “angry” netizens are trying hard to
castigate every single action of them. By doing what others are doing and being
“allies” of those who censure Tiara, people seek for security.
I’m not sure if we can find any
kind of solution for this predilection of violence except waking up every
single person around us. Since this indication is from the natural human
desire, I’m dubious to expect any sort of “great change” even if everyone gets
to realize the truth. But I think we all should at least try to keep the "immoral" desires inside, and not to consider putting into practice.
Comments
Tiffany Min: I agree with you. As shown in the Tiara incident, people tend to think that they embody justice once they become part of the majority sacrificing particular minority. But I don not think Koreans are particularly apt to engage in such collective sacrifice; it is hard to come up with a specific example but it seems like collective violence, psychological or physical, is universal to all races.
Chonghyun Ahn: I do agree that such ostracism is prevalent in our societies, but what I am reluctant to admitting is the reason behind such phenomenon. Is it really pleasure? Maybe, but there needs to be more substantiation.
JinGyeong Ryu: It was a good try to match this novel with Tiara, but I think what the author really wants to convey is somehow different with witch craft. This is more like random than the Tiara incident, don't you think so? Actually, they are similar, thought.... Anyway, I liked your ideas and the way of analyzing with various social issues.
Nuri: Hi Janey. I liked how you used specific examples like the Tiara example to illustrate your point. Some things I want to point out is you should state a clear example and make your idea clearer with a better link.
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