Many people would die to win the lottery; in the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson you would do anything NOT to win this lottery. This annual lottery reveals the negative aspects of this town’s Tradition, Savagery, Barbarism, and cold-heartedness. In this paper I will show why this town blindly follows these customs, not because it’s a tradition but because of the accepting wickedness that can be shown. Why does the town follow this foolish tradition? Throughout “The Lottery” the narrator tells that the people do not remember how the lottery began, and that some of the older people believe the lottery has changed over the years, that now people just want to get it over with as fast as possible.
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.
Traditions have been sought after and passed on for generations; with no questions asked, whether humane or not, traditions are hard to break and diminish as they are often what a culture or community stands for. In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, a story about the tradition of a small village, is painted in impeccable details of peace, and serenity on a warm summer day, as everyone follows the tradition they have known since a long time ago despite the true intentions and meaning of it forgotten. The Lottery taking place annually is like no other lottery, it paints the true picture of the horror that epitomizes the tradition that none of the villagers dare to question, despite it creating separation between gender and families and ruining
These are traditions which are often difficult for those who are not hurt by them to see clearly and that stories like “The Lottery" help to
Two trap stories Essay Many authors around the world use stories to reveal part of human nature, but when the reader compares it to other stories a whole new conclusion can be made about human nature. This is true for the stories “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding and “The Giver” by Lois Lowry. Both trap stories have significant comparisons that prove, when absolute power is given to one person, that person can take away everything from the others, but there is always a good person that can overcome that challenge. The “Lord of the Flies" and “The Giver" are full of similarities that can declare human nature.
Tradition is a theme found in both the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and the play Antigone by Sophocles. In both stories tradition is used as a tool to force people to conform to the “norm” of society. In “The Lottery”, the people of the town revolve around their annual lottery. Everyone is quick to help each other get ready for the event and also show no remorse for the end of the ritual. Nobody objects to the continuation of the lottery, although Mr. Adams brings up the rumor that a nearby village were talking about giving up the lottery but he was quickly shut down by Old Man Warner.
Both the stories depict the theme of the dangers of blindly following traditions as it can lead to the demise if innocent people. In both stories, the townspeople aimlessly follow their annual traditions because they are accustomed to the event. In “The Lottery”, Mr. Adams
Evil is Within Everyone Without thinking, the laws and social rules we abide by every day are actually a fragile barrier keeping the worst of human nature from overtaking modern society. In the allegorical novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a plane full of British school boys is shot down over an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. They are stranded without adult supervision or means to communicate with the outside world. This creates the perfect setting for Golding to explore the best and worst of human nature. It is in this setting that Golding illustrates what can happen when laws and rules vanish and human instinct reigns.
William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies is about a group of young boys, aged around 6-12, that crash land on an uninhabited island, and without adults, they fail miserably. In E.L Epstein’s article “NOTES ON LORD OF THE FLIES” Golding reveals in his novel that the flaws in human nature lead to a flawed society; which is seen in society (Epstein par. 3). Lord of the Flies provides an example of how imperfections in human nature start to surface when people are in a groups. One imperfection is their tendency to do violent and demeaning things as a mob.
It has been said several times throughout history that human nature is constitutionally a negative force. This is further shown in William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies when numerous young boys aged twelve and under are stranded on an island after a plane crash during World War 2. These children abandon all civilization and grow more savage as the literature progresses. The main boys: Ralph, Simon, Piggy, and Jack change exponentially throughout the novel, gradually losing themselves and any culture they had. Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, depicts human nature’s inherent evil and man’s inability to escape it.
Lord of The Flies: Human Nature Are humans instinctively evil? Savage? In Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, young boys are left to organize themselves into a society to keep balance and peace on the island. When the society crumbles beneath their feet, one must ask these questions. The downfall and overall plot of the book is largely telling of human nature, and may be a smaller analogy for human nature in itself.
In the story, tradition of the lottery is very strong, because everyone follows it. Even if the people in the story had to kill a loved one, they still follow tradition. In most cases, tradition is the way of life. I have some traditions; Eating turkey for Thanksgiving, having ham as a food for Christmas Eve dinner, etc. Lots of people have traditions, even if it meant having to kill
“The Lottery” is an realism/horror story written by Shirley Jackson. The story is about some villagers of a small New England town who follow the tradition of making a lottery every year. When it comes, they like to celebrate it with the correct rules and the correct objects so they can feel more comfortable. Everyone need to take a slip of paper from a small black box, and the paper with a black dot in it means that the family is the winner, then they raffle again; Bill Hutchinson, who was the husband of the protagonist Tessie Hutchinson picked a paper with a black dot in it, that meant that Tessie was the winner of the lottery, then she starts complaining because the drawing was not conducted properly. At the end, the townspeople moved off to a cleared spot outside the town and they begin stoning her to death (Jackson).
One afternoon Shirley Jackson decided to write “The Lottery,” all in one day. Jackson sets up the story by describing specific details about the town and where they were gathering to form a twisted end. “The Lottery,” and “The Hunger Games,” seem to have quite a few similarities. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and The Lottery by Shirley Jackson both show how humans are drawn to violent traditions and the hypocrisy human’s possess towards violence. I do believe author Suzanne Collins was influenced by Jackson to create her novels.
When comparing stories the reader may point out revelations about human nature. The two awesome stories, Lord of the Flies and The Most Dangerous Gameshow a motif of being trapped, and they show that being nice can be taken for granted. Lord of the Flies and The Most Dangerous Gameprove that people can behave like animals when it comes to survival. There are several different simalarities for the two trapped stories Lord of the Flies and Most Dangerous Game; however, the most significant would be the setting of the stories. For example when Golding was explaining what the island looked like.
