Comparison Of The Lottery By Shirin Niemoller

Would you ever live in a place where a randomly selected person gets stoned each year? Knowing that it could be your family, friends, or even yourself? In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, it tells a story about a village where people have a tradition of the lottery once a year, whoever wins the lottery will be stoned to death. Tessie Hutchinson is a woman who forgets and arrives late at the lottery. Her husband, Bill Hutchinson draws the lottery for his family, he gets the paper with a black dot, which means one of his family member will be thrown at with stones. Bill’s family draws among themselves again, this time Tessie gets the paper with the black dot and the villagers stones her to death. The purpose of the lottery was to have good harvest, but now the

Do you think that “standing up for what’s right may not always the easiest path” could be a theme for both “The Lottery” and “First They Came”? Well, if you want to find out stick around and you’ll see how they’re different and how they’re alike. “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is about a small town about 300 people that every year they do this tradition. There’s a black box and slips of paper. If you get the paper with the dot on it, then you win the lottery. If you “win” the lottery then your get your win death by getting stoned to death. “First They Came” by Martin Niemoller is about when Hitler and the Nazis came for the Jews and the Socialists and the other people, and Martin didn’t stand up for them and then when he got taken nobody

Although two different stories, with multiple differences in conflict and setting, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell bear multiple similarities as well. Both stories demonstrate how humans are portrayed as evil vs. good. Each story depicts a protagonist exhibiting conflict with another human or humans. One ends on a dark gloomy path for the protagonist while the other results in a victory for the protagonist.

The purpose of this paper will be the comparing and contrasting of two short stories previously read and interpreted by the writer. The two stories chosen were “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, and “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell. These two stories seem to have nothing in common, as they have two separate meanings in two separate eras. However, the moral of each story draws similarity, the author’s paints a picture to keep the audience open minded therefore connecting them in distinct ways.

The two stories, “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, and “First They Came,” by Martin Niemoller, are very different. But both address the theme, standing up for what’s right may not always be the easiest path. The story, “The Lottery,” is a short story about a village with about 300 people in it. Every year, the village holds a lottery. This lottery ends in someone’s life being ended by family, friends, and the rest of the villagers. Their death is because of a simple black dot on a slip of paper. The story, “First They Came,” is a nonfiction poem about someone watching as groups of people get taken away, until finally, they came for him. These groups include Socialists, Trade Unionists, and Jews, and then there is the main character. In his own group, all on his own. Even though these are very different stories, they still do have some of the same themes.

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson was written in 1948. The story takes place in a village square of a town on June 27th. The author does not use much emotion in the writing to show how the barbaric act that is going on is look at as normal. This story is about a town that has a lottery once a year to choose who should be sacrificed, so that the town will have a plentiful year for growing crops. Jackson has many messages about human nature in this short story. The most important message she conveys is how cruel and violent people can be to one another. Another very significant message she conveys is how custom and tradition can hold great power over people. Jackson also conveys the message of

Dystopian stories works depict a negative view of "the way the world is supposedly going in order to provide urgent propaganda for a change in direction”. Often these stories have many themes that can relate to the real world. In the dystopian story “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson, many themes such as false hopes,hypocrisy, ritual, and mob mentality are expressed throughout the story. In the story everyone in a small village gather in the town square for the lottery, whoever gets chosen gets stoned to death by everyone in the town including friends and loved ones. The use of different themes throughout the story relate to the literary devices and universal storytelling elements setting, verbal irony, symbolism, and social cohesion.

Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a story littered with warnings and subtext about the dangers a submissive society can pose. While the opening is deceptively cheery and light Jackson uses an array of symbols and ominous syntax to help create the apprehensive and grim tone the story ends with. Her portrayal of the town folk as blindly following tradition represents the world during World War II when people’s failure to not mindlessly accept and heed authority lead to disastrous consequences. . Shirley Jackson uses a large array of techniques to help convey the idea that recklessly following and accepting traditions and orders can lead to disastrous consequences.

How do our relationships with others define who we are? Others affect us greatly. The people who surround us everyday have a great impact on our own life. Friends and family are the people who create you, and are part of the reason of who you are today. For example, when there’s a new trend, or when someone says a mean comment, you might change something about you at one point or another. Who affects your life?

Nebeker, Helen E. “The Lottery’: Symbolic Touch De Force” Short Story Criticism, edited by Jenny Cromie, vol. 39, Gale Group, 2000, 75 vols, pp. 187-90. Originally published in American Literature, vol. 46, no. 1, March, 1974, pp. 100-07.

that farming is a way of life that is handed down from generation to generation,

After reading "The Lottery," I decided that I wanted to use it for my first paper. However, when I started thinking about the work I wanted to contrast it to, I found it rather difficult. My first thought was to use "The Story of an Hour" for its similarities of female roles in society. My second thought was using "The Cask of Amontillado," but I was not exactly sure where the similarities between the two lied. As such, I attached a scan of what I have come to discover about the two works.

When I think of the lottery, I think of a game basically where they choose one number and something or something gets chosen.

In today’s society we perceive the lottery as being a great fortune brought down upon you by Lady Luck. It is a serendipitous event, even if the person has done nothing to earn it. One would never see the lottery as an unfortunate occasion that occurred in your life because it is supposed to bring prosperity into your life. Also, one would not dare to think that winning the lottery would bring such repercussions as injury or death. In the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the author could have used Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson as the town’s scapegoat due to their reluctance to change traditions, her horrible work ethic, and minority status as a woman.

In her short story, “The Lottery”, Sheila Jackson invites us into the square of a small village on a warm summer day (247). It is not just any day. It is the 27th of June; an annually anticipated day for this community (Jackson, 247). The scene is described to depict a pre-technology era, most likely resembling an early American town. They have postal service, a school, and a bank, but no mention of devices, such as telephones, or modern transportation is made. (Jackson, 247). It is possible that the author wanted to represent the very basic elements in our humanity when choosing the setting.