"Gambling with the future":A history with and without tradition

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In many literary works, history is a core theme. Such is the case in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and Thomas King’s “Totem”. Both stories’ themes stress the importance of being critical of history. Each story, however, takes a different approach on the treatment of this theme. “The Lottery” suggests one should question history and tradition, and perhaps it is time to move on or change. In “Totem,” the importance of remembering one’s heritage and past is the intended message and theme. More specifically, the theme stresses the importance of remembering the Native People of Canada who were once so abundant in number. They are a large part of Canada’s heritage, and are very rich in culture and tradition that should not be forgotten.

In Jackson’s “The Lottery,” the characters in the story place great emphasis on the matter of tradition. The plot follows a small village of closely related and well-acquainted people who refuse to let go of past traditions. One such tradition they perform is a ritualistic practice, which they refer to as “the lottery.” This lottery to which they refer, is not the typical kind one would expect. Rather, in this practice tickets are drawn from “the black box” to determine which of the village people was next to be stoned to death. The protagonist of this story, Tessie, ends up being the victim to this lottery, at which point her previously “positive” approach to this ritual changes to a more negative standpoint.

In “Totem,” King takes a slightly different approach on the matter of tradition. This story is centered around a Canadian museum/art gallery, which is dealing with a strange issue where totems keep re-appearing and disrupting the peace. All measures the museum takes to eliminate this problem are futile. There is an evident connection with the totems and native population of Canada. The totems show constant resistance when the museum workers try to be rid of them, hollering and crying louder as though becoming more infuriated with each attempt at removing them. Eventually they are left to be undisturbed.

To be critical of history would be to question the things one does frequently as tradition, and decide whether these traditions, in fact, have any important basis. Traditions are any kind of teaching, written or spoken, handed down from generation to generation. In “The Lottery” as previously stated, the people are not critical of their history, because they don’t question the traditions they partake in. The village in “The Lottery” is so keen on maintaining and upholding their sacred practices that they do so without even any thought. This is made most obvious by the text; “The people had done it so many times that they only half listened to the directions” (). In “Totem,” however, the people at the museum are also not critical of history because they don’t question the traditions of their Country’s past. The author uses a play on irony that shows how in a Canadian historical museum, that with the most historic significance, namely the totems, is shunned upon by the museum workers. The characters in both short stories simply go about their business doing as told without any further thought, but both are on opposite ends of the spectrum.




In both “The Lottery” and “Totem,” the characters are not critical of their history or past, because neither accept change or are open-minded to alternate choices. They are stuck with the mentality that they, and only they are correct. In “The Lottery” the people of the village feel that by maintaining this lottery, they are more civilized than those other villages that have chosen to abolish this practice. This is seen when one of characters from this story, Old Man Warner, says “Pack of crazy fools, listening to young folks, nothing’s good enough for them. Next thing you know, they’ll be wanting to live in caves” (4). Therefore they continue to follow through with their age-old custom. In “Totem,” it is not made blatantly obvious, but since the workers constantly anger the totems by trying to be rid of them, they refuse to consider the totems’ view, which after further investigation can be linked to the Natives’ fight for fairness after the arrival of the first Europeans to Canada. Such an inference can be made when one of the main characters from this story says, “Maybe if we ignore it, it will stop singing. It might even go away or disappear or something” (4). No attempt at accepting the totem and making compromise was made, which implies neither is willing to change or admit they could be wrong in their judgment.

The symbols found in “Totem” and “The Lottery” appear to be very different. However, after further analysis of both stories the universal meaning behind certain symbols is very similar. The story with the more obvious symbol would be “Totem”. As mentioned previously, the totems themselves represent the Native People who once inhabited most of Canada. However, if this story is looked at on a slightly more general perspective, one could say the totems battling the museum by making themselves noticed and attracting attention to themselves represent the fight to keep history alive where it has almost been forgotten. The museum can almost be looked at as a dictator, which one can also interpret the village in “The Lottery” to be as well. Both control their inhabitants, and both leave little room for independent thought. Also, in many ways Tessie of “The Lottery,” and the totems of “Totem,” represent the courageous hero that chooses to stand alone and fight for what they believe is right. In Tessie’s case, this symbolism was only made near the conclusion of the story by her words “’It isn’t fair, it isn’t right” (6). The totems demonstrated their rebellion to the so-called “dictator” throughout the entire course of the story. One can also say the tragic hero in both stories courageously “dies”, but their cause is not lost.

“Totem” and “The Lottery” appear to be completely different stories irrelevant to each other. However, the theme of both stories, which delves into being critical of history, is made a very clear message. Each story is on opposite ends of the extreme. In “Totem” history is forgotten where it is important, whereas in “The Lottery” too much attention is given to history where it is pointless, even harmful, leaving no room for innovative thought. In both stories, neither situation shows the characters to be keen on change or considering another viewpoint different from their own. Symbolic meanings behind each of the points stated works to further support this argument, for they share the same universal meaning. When analyzing both these stories one can interpret a second more concealed message, which is that using what you are told and what you learn, and drawing your own conclusions is the only way to break out of a possibly harmful cycle. Perhaps Hegel was right when he said, “We learn from history that man can never learn anything from history.”



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