Compare And Contrast The Lottery And The Cask Of Amontillado

Communism, the perfect utopia, Carl Marx 's creation of the perfect government, society, and well-being of its citizens on paper looks like the obvious choice of government, but humans will be ones to destroy it because of greed, want, and power, humanity. The two short stories, "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson and "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe, present the notorious human characteristics that plague all; the ones that will never change. Poe and Jackson 's short stories express the effect of human nature, the willingness to pin others to avoid oppression (scapegoat), and deception. “Nemo me impune lacessit.”(Poe 228) A Latin phrase which means no one attacks me with impunity, and from that is the entire meaning or the main

Other than the main theme of tradition, Jackson portrays the idea of scapegoating through choosing of one towns member to be stoned for the wellbeing of the town, mainly as a sacrifice for better weather for the next harvest. “A wrong is undressed when retribution overtakes its redresser.” (Poe 226) Poe shows the scapegoating through Montresor from the form of revenge to make amends for his troubled past, and that Fortunato was the scapegoat. World War 2, the mass genocide of Jews under Hitler’s regime is the ultimate description of what scapegoating truly is and that “The Lottery” is a perfect correlation of WW2’s scapegoat with the Jews, but in a smaller, very smaller form. That although the selection and murdering of the town a folk once a year could be for the next harvest, or it could be for the gods for grace of the sins of the town. Why does this type of activity or the quest of the removal of fear, regret, and sin is always used by humans, and is always used by the last resort, maybe not always in killing, but in public shaming? It seems that the people that organize and use this tool have a form of deception lased around the implementation of

The entirety of “The Cask of Amontillado” is protruding with deception, from luring Fortunato in the catacombs by challenging his wine connoisseurship and defacing Fortunato’s manliness through health. It is truly remarkable with humans can do with just words; that a person can completely implant certain ideas or actions into a person without suspicion of being control like a joystick in a game. It is especially even more prominent in today’s society, when viewing politicians, and the government itself. A great example is the controversy over the 2nd amendment, right to own and bear arms, and the primary issue is that the media has purposely implanted wrong and misleading facts about guns, and this deception that guns are evil is simply not true. A gun is a tool. The government wants to implement new ‘regulations and laws’, but will it end there, NO! The end result will be to continue restricting guns until they ultimately ban them, and what is exactly happening in California right now (Please view www.americangunfacts.com). “The Lottery” deploys a form of deception by brainwashing the citizens of the town to believe that the killing or savagely stoning a town member is a just right action. The town members don’t even bat an eye when commencing the organized event. “Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box,