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All Pieces Of Literature : The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

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Almost everyone has made a sacrifice in their lifetime that benefits others around them. These sacrifices can be hard to make, since the individual does not receive any satisfaction, but it may be necessary to forgo something to benefit other members of society. These sacrifices can be forced upon an individual by the majority, or can be voluntarily made. If making sacrifices for the greater good is the way a certain group has always done it, then it is accepted from the viewpoint of enculturation, or the adaptation of a society’s members to the norms shared by a culture. Individuals will continue to make these sacrifices so they don’t interfere with concept of normality within their society. This is evident in a few of the works of literature that the class has gone over: The Lottery, The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, Battle Royal, Equus, Harrison Bergeron, and Huckleberry Finn are all pieces of literature that include various types of sacrifice being made to benefit the greater good. In The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, every June, villagers gather in the town square for the lottery, ran by Mr. Summers. The children arrive first, collecting large amounts of stones, followed by the arrival of the parents. In this town, the lottery isn’t what the reader thinks it is. Whoever 's name gets drawn out of the black box is stoned to death by the children in the town. This culture sacrifices one individual every June for harvesting success for the rest of the year. It is a

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