It is evident that the townsfolk are accustom to the tradition, wanting to quickly end the process. The town's lack of concern regarding the outcome of the lottery is a portrayal of one's morality and active conscience being overridden by tradition. Alternatively, the battle royal that occurs in the banquet hall is a shameful representation of the imbalance in society that occurred during the nineteenth century. For their entertainment, the white spectators force the narrator to fight blindfolded on the day of his important speech, "Blindfolded, I could no longer control my motions. I had no dignity" (Ellison 3). The narrator slowly begins to realize of their manipulation at the hands of the white elite. While the battle royal symbolizes the struggle for equality for the black culture, the blindfolds represent their powerlessness, all at the expense of the white society. Essentially, both stories demonstrate ones indifference to others misfortunes from different perspectives. In "The Lottery" the characters experience of the ritual is what drives their psychological motifs behind their attitude whereas in "Battle Royal" the benefit of seeing the blacks fall is a motivator for the white society. .
Furthermore, the human nature of inequality is another display of the immoral aspects of human nature when under the barriers of tradition. To illustrate, the women in the town are of unequal status compared to the men in the society. They are not allowed to select a slip of paper themselves and if their husbands are injured or deceased it is necessary to send their oldest son to choose, "Wife draws for her husband. Don't you have a grown boy to do it for you" (4). Essentially, the inequality of tradition is displayed. The effect of tradition is so powerful that it sets certain rules that do not involve balance, as even in maternity, society's women are displayed inferior to men.
