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The lottery interpretation and symbolism essay
The lottery interpretation and symbolism essay
The lottery interpretation and symbolism essay
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“The Rocking-Horse Winner” by D.H. Lawrence and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson are two short fiction stories that are found in the book “Literature An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing” written by X.L. Kennedy. These two stories have a gloomy, sad conflict that will keep you in suspense until the end, however the characters handle the conflicts in different ways. When reading any two stories the tone and structure will likely be designed different however if anything they might have some similarities. The conflict, structure, and tone in these two short stories are different whereas, throughout the story they have some resemblance. The conflict in these two short fiction stories are different throughout the story, hence
Comparing "The Lottery by Shirley Jackson" and "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin
The short stories “The Lottery” by Shirley Johnson and “Just lather, that’s all” by Hernando Tellez both portray similar situations even though they are two entirely different stories. The two stories both illustrate human feelings and behaviors mostly in reference to fear, violence, unfairness and pride. These two stories, even though they have some things in common, still have some differences and represent some ideas in different fashions. The similarities and differences between these stories have been critically reviewed and will be discussed in the essay.
The setting in the stories The Lottery and The Rocking-Horse Winner create an atmosphere where the readers can be easily drawn in by the contrasting features of each short story. This short essay will tell of very important contrasting aspects of settings in that while both stories are different, both hold the same aspects.
“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman are two very meaningful and fascinating stories. These stories share similarities in symbols and themes but they do not share the same plot which makes it different from one another. Furthermore, “The lottery” was held in New England village where 300 people were living in that village. This event took place every once a year. Besides, the story begins where on one beautiful morning, everyone in that village gathered to celebrate the lottery. The surroundings were such that children were gathering stones while adults were chatting with each other. It was compulsory for every head of family or house to draw a slip of paper out of the box. In addition to that, the family that draws the slip in the black do will have to re draw in order to see who will win the lottery. Therefore, the winner of the lottery will be stoned to death. This is very shocking because in today’s lottery events, the winner will be awarded cash.
When comparing the themes of each story, surprising similarities arise. First, both are developed around the lives of children. In “The Destructors” a group of boys called the Wormsley Gang have the same view of the world around them. They have grown up together and share stories about the bombs that destroyed their town. They also challenge each other to accomplish various tasks. The house that the boys ultimately destroy represents the greediness of Mr. Thomas, an architect who owns the tattered home. The Wormsley Gang called him ‘Old Misery’. In the Rocking Horse Winner”, the story’s plot is thickend by a a young boys obsessive desire to “become lucky”. This young boy, Paul, believes that his house is continually whispering, “…there must be more money…there must be more money”. Paul is able to relate the self-proclaimed dissatificatoin of his mothers life with the odd mood of his house. Paul knows that although his mother appears to have everything together on the outside, she does not love him on the inside. Paul believes that he can please his mother if he is able to find a way to give her more money. In both stories, the houses were very symbolic.
In conclusion, both short stories you can see that they both arrive at a sacrifice of the protagonist’s from different paths. The Lottery is from the view point of blind tradition and The Rocking Horse Winner is from the view point of materialism, the love of money. Although both stories are similar with sacrifice as the end result, the sacrifices are for to completely different circumstances. Tessie Hutchinson’s sacrifice is to satisfy the harvest, which benefits the town. Paul’s sacrifice is to satisfy his mother happiness, which benefits an individual.
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.
The themes of “The Lottery and “The Tell-Tale Heart” have its similarities but minor differences. The stylistic techniques the authors use in each story contribute to their themes. Irony and symbolism help support the 2 different themes of each story. Both stories involve death but are looked at in different ways.
In "The Lottery," by Shirley Jackson, there are a series of traditions the story revolves around. The characters in the story don't seem to follow their traditions anymore. The story begins by explaining how the lottery works. The lottery takes place in many other towns. In this town it takes place on June 27 of every year. Everyone within town would gather at the town square, no matter what age. The black box is brought out and each head of the household pulls a small paper out of it. Only one of the papers will not be blank, it will have a black-penciled spot that is put on by the owner of the coal company. The black spot will send someone, from the family who chose it, to death. This is decided by a draw. The family member who pulls out the spotted paper will be stoned to death. After a long period of time, people forget the traditions by slowly disregarding as the years pass.
Certain individuals have a drive that can lead them to achieve what they desire most. In the Short story “The Rocking Horse Winner”, D.H Lawrence showcases this through character motivation and symbolism. He further this using pursuit of desire, and how if you take it to a certain extent it can result in tragedy if the individual chooses not to conform. Paul wants to please his mother because his mother feels that there family has no luck, but Paul proclaims that he is lucky. Paul suddenly becomes consumed with this sudden spree of good luck and feels this is the only way he will be able to gain to the affection of his mother. D.H Lawrence reveals that Paul has a certain flaw that turns him to believe that the only way he will be able to gain his mothers love and affection is by winning money in the horse races. He leads this pursuit of desire to the standards he thought he wanted to, but not to the standards that would have achieved what he wanted, which leads to his down fall. When individuals desire love from another, they may choose to conform their beliefs and actions to that person. At first they may feel successful, however if they sacrifice everything, in pursuing this kind of goal, they may pay a heavy price instead of gaining there hearts desire.
"The Lottery," by Shirley Jackson, and "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas," by Ursula K. Le Guin can be compared and contrasted many several ways. Both stories share similarities in theme one, a similarity is choosing one character as a scapegoat.
The Rocking Horse Winner, by D.H. Lawrence, is an informative story about luck and one's own fortune. In this story, Lawrence attempts to illustrate how one can guide one's own fate, instead of allowing things to happen by chance. He believes that the only person that affects what happens to someone, is really that person himself. "Everything is what you make of it," is Lawrence's message to the reader. By his use of characterization, instructional images, and irony in The Rocking Horse Winner, D.H. Lawrence attempts to convey to the reader that success and luck are not something that one simply waits for to arrive, but things that one must works to achieve.
Death can come in many ways. It can be sudden, or over a strenuous period of time. It can seem random, but sometimes is planned and thought out. There are just about as many ways to deal with death, as there are ways to die. While both The lottery and The Story of an Hour explore the theme of death and grief, The lottery tells a tale of the sacrificial death for a community (necessary, no grief) while The Story of an Hour depicts the natural death of a loved one (grief, but, later, revelation) and how we eventually come to terms with it.
“The Rocking Horse Winner”, by D.H Lawrence, follows the life of young Paul and his endeavors. In this short story Paul gambles on horses in an attempt to be lucky and bring money home to his family. Once Paul’s family become materialistic, and wastes the money his luck begins to kill him. D. H. Lawrence uses the three main symbols, money, the rocking horse and the house to show the mental trauma that wealth has put on Paul’s family.
The main protagonist, Paul, in the short story “The Rocking Horse Winner”, written by D. H. Lawrence, is a young boy who figures out what extremely good luck he possesses after being told by his mother that his father’s misfortune was the reason for their low income. As Paul continuously hears the “whispers” around the house that sound “there must be more money”, he tests his luck by gambling for horse races in attempt to help his mother with her financial issues. In terms of qualities, Paul is a very strong-willed, smart, mature, and supportive person. Paul expresses many of these characteristics in the relationships presented in the story. However, Paul’s relationship with his mother shows Paul’s resilience, as Paul makes every effort to