Rose for Emily and the Essay

Total Length: 724 words ( 2 double-spaced pages)

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The "original paraphernalia" (Jackson 618) from the very first occasion was lost "long ago" (618). The people in this small town instinctively know that something is wrong with the lottery but still they feared "to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box" (618). Here the people do not know why they gather every year; they only know that they have done it for a very long time. They have allowed themselves to become comfortable with the idea even if it is an awful one. The lottery is accompanied by a "perfunctory, tuneless chant that had been rattled off each year" (619) and a "ritual salute" (619). In addition, the people gather with fear before each lottery; the children cannot fully enjoy summer because they know what it means. The people are creatures of habit because "no one likes to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box" (619) and no one did even as they saw the results of their ways. These people were afraid of what change would bring even though they knew every year they got lucky meant waiting and worrying throughout the next year. The thought of change was more dreadful than the risk of death.Change is never easy and the human psyche makes it more difficult than it should be at times. Emily Grierson was accustomed to the life she had with her father and was understandably devastated when he passed away. His death meant change in every aspect of Emily's life and she was unprepared and unwilling to deal with his death in a positive way. The townspeople in "The Lottery" demonstrate how difficult change can be because humans tend to become creatures of habit and the familiar is somehow more comfortable than the unknown. Both stories reveal how humanity resists and fears change when it proves to be the most natural thing they should do.

Works Cited

Jackson, Shirley. "The Lottery." The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Cassill, R.V. ed. New

York W.W. Norton and Company. 1981.

Faulkner, William. "A Rose for Emily." The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Cassill, R.V.,….....

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