Good Vs. Evil In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

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The theme of good vs evil manifests itself in human nature. What is considered to be evil usually varies for different people. The one similarity is that evil harms others. Parallel to this idea is the one common conception of goodness and that it betters others’ lives. Short stories often prove this. In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” the evil is the town’s people killing one person and the goodness is their kind side that hesitates to do so. In this example the evil unfortunately wins. Contradicting this story is Sherman Alexie’s “A Good Story” where the protagonist defends his people from the frightful stereotypes they possess. John Newton refers to it as “A residual politics of recovered authenticity… (Newton).” The story’s purpose is …show more content…

Watching an innocent person die without doing anything to prevent it is not evil. It just shows lack of strength. Not many people stand up for what they think is right if a bunch of others oppose them. This is the case in “The Lottery” where any thoughts of morality about their twisted tradition are suppressed by the majority. Nebeker says, “The awful doubleness of the human spirit--a doubleness that expresses itself in blended good neighborliness and cruelty… (Nebeker)”. One can clearly see this double nature in the towns people. They start the lottery joking with each other, but turn into savages once a victim is chosen. This second, primitive attitude was the point where any morals were discarded or forgotten. It was done out of fear. Many people may have thought the lottery was wrong, but believed their piers would disagree. This is where the theme of good vs evil shows itself. The point where moral thoughts battle fear. There will always be doubt when going against the grain. Most people don’t even overcome the feeling, and “The Lottery” proves this when morals are put to the extreme test. However, is it sometimes the right choice to stay quiet? In another story the characters disprove this by voicing their opinions on a certain

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