Similarities Between The Lottery And Fahrenheit 451

In these idealistic societies the government tries their best to ensure happiness by whatever means necessary. But satisfaction is not the same for every individual. By examining The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, Standing Women by Yasutaka Tsutsui, and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury it's become clear that mankind cannot dictate happiness across their nation and that they fail in making utopian civilizations. In Fahrenheit 451, knowledge and new ideas in the form of books are prohibited and burned because it threatens the government. It makes it easier to control civilians when they are ignorant. But this fails when people find books and read them. Montag, the main character is a fireman who finds and burns books. “‘[Montag and
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This village does ‘the lottery’ which is when they pick a name from a box and the winner gets stones thrown at them until they die. This has always been a tradition and most don't like it, but no one wants it to change. The Lottery is very similar to Fahrenheit 451 because they're both being controlled by a higher power, the government. These characters cannot easily break free of the authoritative power. In this story, Tessie’s husband’s name is drawn. “Tessie Hutchinson shouted to Mr. Summer] [that he] didn't give [her husband] enough time to take any paper he wanted. [She] saw [Mr. Summer]. It wasn't fair!” (Jackson, 5) But in the end Tessie was chosen and she was killed. “And someone gave little Davy Hutchinson few pebbles.” (Jackson, 7) Tessie questioned this event when she realized how much pain this would cause her. This tradition is so important even Tessie's son, Davy threw rocks at her. No one wants this ‘ideal’ society because no one wants to be so close to dieing. This utopian society fails because death causes sadness, especially when it's your family. The reader can gain knowledge on how important tradition is and how society cannot provide happiness to everyone, which is proven in this sad