Do most people wish to be followers? This is a question that has puzzled many sociologists when trying to understand one's social condition. Throughout history, civilised societies have been governed by sovereign powers that use a diverse set of rules and laws to maintain societal order and domination. Thomas Hobbes, an English philosopher, stated that laws were made to refrain individuals from pursuing their evil objectives. Thus without them, chaos is sure to be a consequence of such behaviour. Countries that lack governmental control experience high crimes rates because there is no one to monitor individual behaviour and offer punishment to those who transgress societal norms. Likewise, when state leaders misuse their power, people tend to fall back to their more animalistic and violent tendencies. In the short stories, “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the leaders manipulate their societies through the power their citizens or villagers allow them to have which creates a draconian dystopia in which individual autonomy and choice is restricted. This is demonstrated through the use of characterization and through the denouement. In both texts, the lack of freedom individuals are given plays a key role in their character development. In “The Lottery,” all of the villagers are required to take part in the lottery in which the unfortunate winner is stoned to …show more content…
In “The Lottery,” Tessie Hutchinson states that the lottery is not justifiable and “it isn’t fair, it isn’t right,’ (Jackson, 6). At the end of the story, Mrs. Hutchinson engages herself in rebellious actions by claiming that the lottery is unjust. In consequence, her objection towards the lottery ultimately results in her death. Though Tessie
Summers stating he is glad that one lady has a man to participate, and Mrs. Hutchinson is told to be a good sport. When a group of men starts discussing towns that have given up the lottery, they state those towns would go barbaric and live in caves (Jackson 240). Also, Patrick J. Shields states in “Arbitrary Condemnation and Sanctioned Violence in Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery,’’ “[o]ld man warner is the elder of the community and has survived 77 lotteries. He views them as a necessary and good (Shields 415).” This is ironic since a stoning is primitive and not a positive event for a town to hold; thus, stopping the lottery would do the opposite. Also, Mr. Summers states briefly”’[g]lad to see your mother’s got a man to do it’’’ (Jackson 239). This is outrageous since the husband probably died from the lottery. Therefore, being all pretentious about this in uncalled for. Finally, when the Hutchinsons are selected, Tessie states the lottery is unfair; shortly after Mrs. Delacroix tells her to be a good sport (Jackson 241). Although Mrs. Delacroix probably just does not want the lottery to be done again, so she does not possibly get selected. Therefore, this story shows verbal irony when the men discuss the lottery, the boy pulls for his mother, and Mrs. Hutchison being told to be a good
The paper will analyze the similarities and differences in Lottery and Harrison Bergeron in regards to their perspectives and moods. The perspectives of these two short stories are distinct. The difference of the perspectives between Lottery and Harrison Bergeron is that the former’s perspective is focus on whole town people, and the latter is from the protagonist. Lottery is no clear clue to define who are the leading roles and who are the supporting roles, and on the contrast, the perspective of the Harrison Bergeron is Harrison Bergeron which is also the protagonist of the story, and the readers are easy and clear to know it.
Thomas King quoted "The truth about stories is that's all we are" transmits a theme about
Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s “Harrison Bergeron” both paint fairly morbid pictures of what extreme conformity can do in society. The two stories have vastly different settings and employ dissimilar approaches to the subject of conformity. Despite this, they both suggest that the need to conform, which is encouraged by American society, is dangerous and can lead to the loss of freedoms and loss of life. The two also insinuate that standing up to authority for purely selfish reasons is pointless.
Henry ford, once wisely said,’’ History is more less bunk. It’s tradition. We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker's dam is the history we made today’’. “The Lottery” and “Harrison Bergeron” are the best deprivation short stories. Harrison Bergeron” and “The Lottery” both reveal that it is human nature to blindly want a better situation without considering all the possible outcomes. Not just in these stories, but also in reality, people want to attain an equal society, although many people do not consider how everyone will become equal, in ‘’Harrison Bergeron’’ He is afraid of everything and try to enlighten to other member of society and In Shirley Jackson’s ‘’The Lottery’’ the story shows winning the lottery is bad, but in the lottery the lucky winner who draws the winning paper then gets the prize of being stoned death. Jackson uses Tessie Hutchinson’s character to condemn force. However, both stories are false equality and blind traditions but both societies while awareness is the difference between them.
‘The Lottery’ and ‘Harrison Bergeron’, two short stories depicting dystopian ways of life were written in the mid-twentieth century just after the second world war and in the midst of the fight for equality in western civilization. These stories display commonalities and differences in areas such as their authoritarian atmosphere, perceptions of equality, and based on their general arch and themes.
People with power in society often have the ability to influence the practice of certain traditions. These traditions can affect what a citizen is entitled to do. In today's day and age, life without basic freedoms and rights sounds unthinkable. However, in Shirley Jackson's “The Lottery” and Kurt Vonnegut's “Harrison Bergeron” this is the reality. Old Man Warner and the Handicapper General show that people in positions of authority encourage outdated traditions that ultimately lead to innocent people getting hurt.
The Lottery In the short story, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the characters have different feelings about “The Lottery.” One of the characters, Tessie Hutchinson, feels that the lottery is unfair. After the first drawing, she says that their family didn’t have enough time to pick their slip and that the drawing was unfair. This scene shows that she is actually afraid for her life, since they all understand that the drawing was random and unbiased.
When a loving, caring, family oriented, women come in conflict with the horrible, despicable, inhumane lottery in a situation in which the town goes together, the results may be a terrible end in a young life. In “The Lottery” written by, Shirley Jackson, the main character Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson’s and the town folk are the main characters of this story. In “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson uses the use of characterization to portray the main ideas of the story. Shirley Jackson also uses the use of plot structure and the point of view in which the story is being told. The Lottery is a way to make a sacrifice for a good harvest in the upcoming season.
Shirley Jackson’s twisted story, “The Lottery,” takes place in a small town with a measly population of about 300 people. In the story, Tessie Hutchinson, a well-known civilian in the town is one of the 300 people with their lives at risk when the annual Lottery is held. The lottery is a system of selecting a family, then selecting a member of that family to be killed. In this town, and probably everywhere else in the world, no one wants to be the one to die. The reason why the lottery is held is unknown, as the text has not explicitly stated a reason. A possible lesson that “The Lottery” promotes is that selfishness is human nature. Selfishness by itself can be so overpowering that it
“A stone hit her on the side of the head. "It isn't fair, it isn't right," Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her” (34). “The Lottery” is a short story written by Shirley Jackson which, sparked controversy when published in the June 26, 1948 issue of the New Yorker. Jackson used several different literary devices to support her theme that people who don’t question tradition get what they deserve. The literary devices Jackson uses to support the theme of ‘The Lottery’ are irony, foreshadowing, and pacing.
Harrison Bergeron is a story where the government tries to make everyone equal by handicapping them. You wear a mask if you are pretty, you lug around a heavy back if you are tall and strong, and you have timed beats to distract your brain if you are smart. One person named Harrison tried to rebel, but he got killed. The Lottery is about how every people draw from a black box and if they get a certain ticket they get stoned. Although the two stories have many similarities in conflict they have very different conflict as well. They are generally similar because they both have someone attempting to deny or rebel against society or government and they both get are unsuccessful and killed in the end. They are generally different because one actually does something that most of society wants while one just doesn’t want accept it and society doesn’t care.
The Lottery is a story based on a village's tradition. The lottery is defined as a very collective act of murder. The tradition of the lottery is the coming together of the whole town, on one specific day, for certain hours to draw one person’s name to see who will get to get killed by getting stoned. With this act of killing someone is making it a collective act of murder because they could disobey the tradition and not chose someone but they chose to kill one person to make themselves live longer. “It is not fair, it is not right” is coming from Mrs. Hutchinson who at the end of the story was the person who wins the lottery and gets stones thrown at her after she said these words thus making it a collective act of murder. Another reason because it’s not like they are killing that person on accident they are killing another human being on purpose to save their life.
The lottery is usually associated with beating the odds and winning something extravagant. In Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery”, the reader is led to believe the story is about something cheerful and happy given the setting of a warm summer day and children out of school for the summer. Jackson turns winning the lottery into a bad thing. Of 300 villagers Tessie Hutchinson shows up late, claiming she forgot about the annual lottery drawing, but seems very excited to have made it on time. When Tessie was in no danger she is gossiping with neighbors and encourages her husband to draw for the winner. Jackson curiously builds up the character of Tessie so that it seems she is blinded by tradition until she becomes a victim of it
In the end of the story Tessie Hutchinson, does in fact die from the lottery. This is proving the idea that those who live by conformity may die from it. The idea that those who live by conformity may die by it is shown when no one tries to end the lottery, also when Tessie does not protest until she is affected by the lottery, and finally when the townspeople do not understand the true