Heat And The Lottery: A Literary Analysis

In both Joyce Carol Oates’s story Heat and Shirley Jackson’s story The Lottery the idea that violence in inevitable in the world and that fate is a controlling factor play a large part in plot of either story. Oates writes about the murder of two young girls after what readers can assume is a rather brutal rape. Jackson depicts a dystopian society in which once a year a name is drawn and a person is sacrificed as a way to repent for the sins of the town. In both stories, a violent death occurs and in both stories the death is inevitable to the situation. The sisters in Heat are put in a situation in which they cannot foresee the coming doom and then are unable to fight off their attacker in order to protect themselves. The Lottery is a game-of-chance scenario, but the reader can assess that the idea of fate is prominent in the happenings. When the sacrifice is chosen, it is by completely random circumstances, suggesting that the name drawn is destine to be the sacrificial lamb.

The interesting part about this repetitive theme is the lack of religion incorporated into either story. God is only mentioned four times in Heat, once as a curse, the other as an adjective. The other two times that God is mentioned is not in a specifically religious context “If you believe in God you believe that. And if you don't believe in God it's obvious” (Oates). Jackson’s story does not mention God at all. From what readers can assess, there is no religious practice in The Lottery. While there is no sense of religion, neither of these stories is lacking in violence. The purpose of which could be to display that violence is an