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Similarities between the lottery and hunger games
Similarities between the lottery and hunger games
Essays about the hunger games
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Everyone has seen some type of death, whether it is a loved one, or a fictional character, or a pet. Although has the death symbolised something like tradition or even winning? Now in reality I’m sure that it has meant sadness and it’s very depressing, but sometimes it can mean a new beginning like in the short story “The Lottery” and the novel The Hunger Games. In The Hunger Games people are chosen from a drawing and they have to go into an arena and fight to the death, this is a tradition for the districts. Almost the same thing happens in the short story, “The Lottery”. In this story, villagers are not drawn but they come up and pick a card, once this card is chosen they are stoned to death for tradition also. Shirley Jackson’s, “The Lottery” and Suzanne Collins; The Hunger Games may have distinct differences but share similarities in theme and craft moves. Granted, both texts share the same idea that tradition is important even though it maybe be inhumane or the wrong thing to do. For example, in the story “The Lottery” the villagers even think that …show more content…
In “The Lottery” the author uses descriptive language to describe the box and how it represents tradition. Jackson says, “The original paraphernalia for the lottery had been lost long ago, and the black box now resting on the stool had been put into use even before Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town, was born.” Even though this tradition is bad and inhumane, the villagers just back away from the box. The difference is in The Hunger Games, the games are described as harsh and just totally not right for any human being in any part of the districts. The author uses symbolism as a way to represent the importance of tradition in this story. Katniss and her friend don’t like it in the districts her friend (Gale) says, “Leave the district. Run off. Live in the woods. You and I, we could make it” (Collins
War as seen through the eyes of Ambrose Bierce in An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge depicts it as truly gritty. The author successfully sends a message of how death is a part of war, and it is not as noble or glorious as one would think it is. Due to popular media, we have this attitude that the protagonist is going to go down in a blaze of glory, and while it may be true for some, it is not like that for everyone. War is rough, dark, and gritty but no one ever wants to talk about those parts of war because it would ruin the fantasy of it.
People within communities have a large responsibility to one another. Sometimes, however, that responsibility and respect seem to fade, as in “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson, and “The Masque of the Red Death”, Edgar Allan Poe. Both of these stories describe settings in which communities fell apart either briefly or all together.
Several generations have gone through some type of an unfair law that they had to obey, for example, in past generations African Americans were enslaved, but more presently the lack of rights the LGBT members have with marriage. This can relate to the stories “Antigone” and “The Lottery” because the characters in each story went through unfair tragedies. The laws in each of these stories are different, but actually very similar as shown by the end result.
A common phrase used in courts is that someone is “innocent until proven guilty.” Through the plot’s of “The Lottery” and The Crucible, this idea of people being innocent until guilty is shown, however, the part of this phrase about proving that guilt is conveniently left out. Of course, both stories took place in a time in which the villagers felt no need for there to be any kind of trial or reasoning for someone’s death. Rather, the persecutions that occured in these stories took place to ensure that barbaric tendencies did not spread among the people within their villages. This idea of keeping people from being barbaric or evil enforces the idea that perhaps people truly think that the people who choose the marked paper are really deserving
In the story, The Lottery, there are many signs of duality of human nature. Many of the characters appear to be affected by the lottery at first, but towards the end their feelings start to change. Tessie, Mr.Summers, and Mrs.Delacroix all show two sides of humanity and they all generally appear to be good natured people, but are they really?
Suzanne Collin's The Hunger Games and Shirley Jackson's The Lottery both demonstrate tradition, scapegoating, and sacrifice as the theme in their story. In “The Lottery” a violent murder occurs each year in order to preserve tradition. The same occurs in The Hunger Games where a tribute is chosen, one male, and one female to represent their district in a deadly death match. However, both stories end with different outcomes. In The Hunger Games whoever is victorious will live a life of riches and freedom whereas in one family member is chosen to be stoned to death. These two stories have one major difference. While The Hunger Games are a punishment, The Lottery is a result of tradition. The stories contain scapegoating by the characters trying to escape their fate by anyway possible including selfishness. Both of these stories demonstrate the meaning of tradition, scapegoating, and sacrifice.
Though there are some noticeable differences between Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and Ursula Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”, however the similarities in the two stories are clear. The themes of both short stories are centered on tradition and the sacrifice of one individual for the good all. In the “The Lottery” someone is stoned to death in order for the village to be prosper. While in the “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” the cities happiness solely depends on the suffering of a child whom has done nothing wrong. The point that both authors are trying to convey to the audience is; at what point do we as a society begin to question a way of doing things, question a tradition that has no real truth or reason behind
Compare and Contrast! Well, you use it on a daily right? The stories “The Lottery” and “The Landlady” are two stories that you can compare and contrast. Some examples of comparisons are that both of the stories use violence, and that they both end with a plot twist no one was expecting. One example of a contrast in both of these stories is that they use their imagery differently. How are these stories alike and how are they different?
Although people can fear an outcome of telling the truth or standing up for what they believe is right, being a bystander in a poor situation doesn’t exempt someone from innocence. Whether it involves a murder or telling the truth, if someone knows it is wrong and does nothing to take part in what’s going on they are no better than the ones involved in the conflict. In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee and The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, both stories involve bystanders. A bystander is not innocent when they do nothing about the problem going on around them.
In “The Lottery” the most significant symbol is the tethered black box. The black box had been around for years even for the lotteries before Old Man Warner. It had become shabby and torn and some townspeople believed that it would make more sense to use a newer box while others believed that it needed to stay the same in fear that it would be detrimental for the traditional values they believed in. Mr. Summers, the official of the lottery, had suggested the box be changed several times but not one person seemed to entertain the idea in fear that it would disrupt tradition. (5) The color of the box also represents symbolism. Typically, when someone thinks about the color black they associate that with fear and death and not with something positive. It is very ironic that in the beginning of the story everything was bright and sunny but towards the end the tone become much darker adding to the tone of the
George Orwell’s 1984 and Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery both take place in two different scenarios of human civilization. George Orwell’s story depicts the distressful life of a rebellious and aware ruling-class member fighting a world of totalitarianism and lies while Jackson tells the story of a dark ritual born from an isolated rustic life. While the plots may differ, the theme of both stories ask the question: how can somebody be capable of this? Both stories show how the indoctrination of children into a malevolent culture enable the inability of individuals to apply logical thought which allows two antipodal civilizations to commit atrocity.
In the stories of “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins, both authors deliver the dangers of blindly following tradition that can lead to death, fear and no advancement in society. In “The Lottery” their tradition is to kill a person that is randomly chosen by using a lottery. To compare, in “The Hunger Games” children are also picked out of a lottery from each district and if they are chosen, they need to fight against each other to death. Both stories share a tradition of cruel and murderous behavior but they have a slight difference in tradition.
“Although everyone appears to agree that the annual lottery is important no one seems to know when it began or what its original purpose was” (Introduction) This is made clear when in the story it says that the reason the tradition had started was lost years ago. It is also made clear when the box is being describe as an old rugged looking thing and “Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box” (Jackson). In the story it also says that so much of the original tradition has been lost or discarded that Mr. Summers who symbolizes a leader who has frighten amounts of power, was able to slip in chips of wood instead of paper into the box (Jackson). Mr. Summers is in charge of the lottery it is even up to him to but the black dot on the paper that decides who will be stoned. The power that Mr. Summer has serves as a symbol of humans blindly following tradition because no one ever challenged Mr. Summers whether it be to figure out or stop the lottery or even to challenge why he is the one in power. Instead the town’s people feel sorry for him because he has a nagging wife and no children. Jackson never explains why Mr. Summers has all this power. Mr. Summers is a bit ironic to because of his last name summers. When someone thinks of summer they think
“The Lottery” is a story which shows the complexity and capability of human behavior. Something immoral, like stoning a person to death once a year, is a normal occurrence. The main character, Tessie Hutchinson, is the victim of the lottery. Tessie is a character with a number of seemingly good characteristics, yet her surrounding culture rejects these characteristics. The majority of the people in the village has opposite attitudes and beliefs in comparison to Tessie’s. These attitudes and beliefs reflect her personal desires which quickly struggle against the culture’s expectations. Tessie is unlike the other villagers; she is initially indifferent to the lottery indicating her desires are unrelated to the lottery. Upon winning the lottery, Tessie changes and her personal desires to survive and reject the lottery emerge in her selfishness and outspoken personality. These struggles against the village’s expectations are shown through the culture’s emphasis on tradition and small town ties.
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.