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The Lottery And The Hunger Games: A Literary Analysis

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The stories "The Lottery" and "The Hunger Games" are very similar to one another. Both stories show fear, sacrifice, and violence in some way. The government is corrupt and is not willing to stop deadly traditions that have gone on for too long. These traditions should have never started in the first place. In "The Lottery," citizens fear that they will no longer be able to grow crops as a result of not having this deadly game. Carol Cleveland, who wrote Contemporary Literary Criticism, stated "not until the final moments of the action does it become clear that the “winner” of the lottery will be stoned by the rest of the village" (Cleveland). In "The Hunger Games," the government wants to put fear in the hearts of all of the citizens that dare to disobey. Neither government wants to end the laws that have killed so many people. In the stories "The Lottery," by Shirley Jackson, and "The Hunger Games," by Suzanne Collins, both societies have a dysfunctional view of life, use other's fear as a weapon, and use violence as a way to solve problems.
"The Lottery" and "The Hunger Games" start off in very similar ways. In "The Lottery," the town is beginning to prepare and …show more content…

In "The Lottery," the candidate chosen gets stoned to death by the rest of the town. Most people believe that this will solve their problem with growing crops. Not many people see the issue and the real problem; that they believe if they kill someone every year, their plants will grow. In "The Hunger Games," the government and the Capital both believe that by keeping the districts weak, by killing them off and using their fear against them, they are strong and are in control. They believe that if they use the Hunger Games to make citizens fearful, they will not rebel. All of them should have known an uprising would eventually happen if they did

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