Through her story, “The Lottery”, Jackson wanted to emphasize the idea of tradition. Modern society follows old traditions without knowing what the true purpose of it is. We blindly follow these traditions since that’s the way it has been for a long time. It is perceived as “right way” of doing even though the past and present are completely different times. Even though it was considered appropriate in the past, it doesn’t mean it will work out just as fine in the future.
This story also criticizes how modern society fears change. Change is perceived as making society vulnerable and weak. Since we are so used to tradition, we fear change because it is capable of taking away our comfort and our feeling of safety. Jackson emphasizes that modern society is in need of change. She sees change as a necessity instead of a danger to society.
The modern society is in definite need of change, but maintaining tradition with that change is difficult.