Similarities Between The Hunger Games And The Lottery

“The Lottery”, written by Shirley Jackson, and The Hunger Games, written by Suzanne Collins, have many similarities yet some differences. Both have many characteristics that are alike and themes that are similar. Each story has a historical, social, and economic idea of their time. The both deal with problems society and violence have.

Both stories illustrate the consequences of blindly following traditions. In The Hunger Games, the story is based on twenty-four youth tributes from various districts being chosen to compete in the games. They are forced to kill one another while people from their districts watch in horror. The people that lived in these districts feared of being chosen to participate in the annual Hunger Games. The Capitol residents watch the traditional hunger games as entertainment. If people decide to bell against the Treaty of Treason, created by the Capitol, they would be executed in front of their district or the entire country of Panel. Likewise the villagers in “The Lottery” also lived in fear that one day they would be chosen to be stoned to death. In “The Lottery” citizens came together every year to participate in the lottery. Families are drawn and whichever family member picks out the piece of paper with a black dot, will get

stoned by their own family. The characters from both stories know that these traditions are not good and are afraid, but will not speak up. In “The Lottery” , the villager’s have allowed this ritual murder to become part of their town fabric. Just like “The Lottery” The Hunger Games has also allowed these traditions to affect many people.
“The Lottery”, published in 1948, taking place in a town with villagers’.

Unlike The Hunger Games published in 2008, taken place in an arena with districts. In 2008, a certain change had occurred in America, we had our very first African American President. This situation affected many people. Many rebelled and lots of protest occurred because they did not want to accept this change. Many people have related this story to the time period this story was published. During the early 2000’s people were expressing the way they were. In The Hunger Games Katniss rebelled against the Capitol. She unlike others noticed she needed to rebel in order for others to listen and understand that this tradition needs to

stop.
The fact that “The Lottery” was written post WWII gives us an idea of how it resonated with the people. American society was entering a phase staunch conformity. Shirley Jackson wrote “The Lottery” to give us a demonstration of how rituals have brutal consequences. During the war people did as requested by Hitler. Citizens watched as their neighbors were taken away and they knew they would get killed. Similar to “The Lottery” everyone in the town saw their neighbors close to death and did nothing to prevent the senseless death of them. Both these stories explain why we should rise up against an immoral authority.
Although both Katniss and Tessie are forced to participate in their annual ritual, they both are rebellious towards the government, but Tessie complains unlike Katniss that acts to pursue what she wants. She fought against the capitol to help the districts and make a change. Unlike Katniss, Tessie throughout the story seemed very selfish. She wanted to get the lottery over with and wasn't really complaining about it until her family got chosen to participate. She completely changed her attitude once she got chosen. She stated that the lottery was not fair. Us as readers could conclude that Tessie would have been on the villagers side stoning the chosen one if Tessie would have not been chosen to get stoned. Differ from these difrenced they both shared one similarity, they both questioned themselves why they continued these traditions
Both stories were in a time period where most people were poor. Although these two stories were written in two different time periods, they share similar storyline. They both reached us a very good lesson to stand up to what we believe and to not be afraid of letting go of a tradition.