The universe is filled with many traditions: tailgates before a baseball game, parades commemorating the holidays, and trick-or-treating on Halloween. Why does society adhere to traditions? What is the importance of a tradition? Will society ever be satisfied with current progress? For any society to function properly, there needs to be a foundation on which to base its actions. There should always be in place a systematic set of standards and principles that society must follow as long as they do not contradict fundamental human rights. “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is a short story that describes the following traditions. In "The Lottery", the small town consists of about 300 people. They are gathered around an old black box that desperately needs to be replaced, but the city has chosen not to do so out of tradition. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The whole town is present except Mrs. Hutchinson. He shows up late, forgetting that the date is June 27, the day of the lottery. The head of the family, being the eldest male, draws for each family. If their leaflet is white, they are considered safe; however, if the paper has a black dot, the family must repeat the drawing process. The family member with the black dot on the slip of paper will receive the gruesome fate of being stoned to death. This tradition is kept alive because the villagers believe that a sacrifice is essential for producing good crops. Jackson insinuates that the lottery is just another meaningless day for the village due to tradition; the lottery process only takes about two hours and everyone continues with their day. Mr. and Mrs. Adams indicate that various surrounding villages are abolishing the lottery, but Old Man Warner fears that abolishing the lottery will cause the community to regress to a caveman lifestyle. Old Man Warner, therefore, does not want to interrupt the tradition, even if these procedures seem to harm the citizens. The main tradition represented in this tale is ritual sacrifice or capital punishment. This is demonstrated when Mrs. Hutchinson is stoned in exchange for producing good crops. Evidently, his screams indicate that he opposes stoning and self-sacrifice, leading the audience to wonder whether this tradition is a form of punishment. Both ritual sacrifice and capital punishment have been used throughout history.* According to Patrick J. Shields, author of Arbitrary Conviction and Sanctioned Violence in Shirley Jackson's “The Lottery,” “History itself shows the atavistic nature that lies behind beneath the civilized surface of humanity and guides the reader to examine notions such as scapegoating, ritual cleansing, gender, class structure, arbitrary sentencing, and sanctioned violence.” Many of these traditions date back to the Old Testament. For example, the sacrifice of lamb's blood was necessary for the atonement of people's sins. Animal sacrifice was practiced in the earlier biblical culture, and human sacrifice was also practiced in the ancient Aztec culture. Twenty-first century residents view these ancient traditions of human and animal sacrifice with utter disgust. This is because the concept of tradition has changed compared to ancient times; human and animal sacrifices were considered normal because of what tradition told individuals to do. Traditions are an integral part of society and have permanent effects. They are part of everyday life. What if traditions affect an individual's human rights or dignity, how.