Obedience
... In “The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson, a fictional town is introduced in which all the villagers participate annually in a lottery used to determine which inhabitant is to be stoned to death; performed out of habit, it demonstrates ritualized unthinking obedience to custom. ... Lessing and Fromm have different analysis of obedience when it comes to the stoning of Tessie Hutchinson and the father/son relationship in “The Lottery”. The stoning of Tessie Hutchinson reflects one pattern of obedience. ... Fromm’s position would suggest that disobedience is necessary for the society of the village in “The Lottery” to progress and grow; unless they are able to break away from unthinking obedience to what he calls “authoritarian conscience”(379). In her essay titled “Group Minds”, Doris Lessing also deals with the important issue of obedience and group pressure. ... (334) Compliance and obedience are necessary for any society to function,but in order for a society to grow and evolve,as it must, the individual members must willingly face public disapproval and censure,paying the price brought on themselves by asserting their thoughtful obedience when their society takes a wrong turn.