Similarities Between The Lottery And The Most Dangerous Game

The Comparison of Humanity’s Fear in “The Lottery” and “The Most Dangerous Game”

Authors create fictional stories which provide explorations and adventures for readers who can immerse themselves into realities that would otherwise be impossible. By doing so, readers can experience a flora of emotions and ideals through these stories; fear being one of them. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” used detailed imagery and the theme of randomness of persecution to reveal humanity’s fear of being different from one another, however in “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell the combination usage of diction and imagery and the theme of reason versus instinct exacerbates humanity’s fear of being preyed on much like animals. Despite the opposite themes,

each author offers a unique take on horror and humanity's fears which leads back to the overall theme of the danger of blindly following one’s owns traditions.
Richard Connell, born on October 17, 1893 and passed away November 22, 1949, was an American author and journalist best known for his short story, “The Most Dangerous Game” (Connell 1924).

“The Most Dangerous Game” has been adapted to radio and film several times. Shirley Jackson was born on December 14, 1916 and passed away on August 8, 1965; she was also an American writer. Over the span of her career, she composed two memoirs, six novels and over 200 short stories, the most popular being “The Lottery,” which was published on June 26th, 1948. “The Lottery” gained her a significant amount of fame and attention when it was published in an issue of the New Yorker. Both authors wrote short stories that were the epitome of people’s

fear.
Five types of imagery are used by both authors to make the reader imagine themselves in the main character’s shoes: kinesthetic, visual, auditory, organic, and tactile. Richard Connell paints the story of a world-renowned hunter who becomes stranded on an island ultimately to be chased by a bloodthirsty villain, also a war veteran, whose instincts leads him to hunt humans, while Jackson describes a character who lives in a small town that hosts an execution lottery where the winner is stoned to death by the entire town. Both Richard and Shirley start their stories off by lulling the reader into a false sense of security with visual imagery. In the beginning of “The Most Dangerous Game”, the main character, Rainsford, is on a yacht headed to Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro is known as a popular tourist location and has many delightful activities. The false security the reader holds is soon stripped down when the author uses auditory imagery. Rainsford starts to hear things from crew members about their fear of an island and then Rainsford hears gunshots which leads him to investigate. The sound of the gunfire drew him onto the railing of the yacht where he falls and swims towards it. This pivotal scene develops the fearful mood. In addition to auditory, one sentence hints at organic imagery which adds a subtle ominous tone to the story is “The world is made up of two classes, the hunters and the huntees,..”(Connell 1) and “We are the hunters…” (Connell 1) that soon after being read sets the reader with a suspenseful feeling. The author makes the tells the reader that such a bold statement and ego will soon be questioned or downright shot down. Following this, the combination of tactile and kinesthetic imagery is used to emphasize the emotions Rainsford feels before and during him being hunted. He has to run through the forestry and bear the weather. The pounding of rain deepens his fear of being caught while every little noise an animal makes reinforces the terror that the General is tracking him like a wild beast. He essentially becomes an animal aware of every little sound. Cornell weaves visual, auditory, and kinesthetic imagery to make the reader feel as though they are an animal, having to listen to every noise to avoid being killed. While Rainsford’s reason is slowly converting to instinct, so is the readers’.
In “The Lottery,” the use of imagery is much subtler. When Tessie's families name is drawn only one unmarried family member is left, so it is decided that anyone who bore the last name Hutchinson will be entered into the drawing under that name. Tessie, paralyzed with fear at the sound of hearing her maiden name, tries to get her sisters in to the drawing. The author hints that Tessie does not want to be picked, since she is trying to worsen her chance of getting picked. The author emphasized the fear that comes with the auditory imagery of a name being called, then further expands the fear with tactile imagery of each family member holding a sheet of paper that may or may not have a black dot. The final hit at the readers is when Tessie opens her paper to reveal a black dot, the symbol for execution in this story. The visual imagery which is the symbol of execution is humanity’s fear of being different or to be called out and persecuted. Lastly, Jackson sums up all the fear and turns it into the pain as Tessie makes a walk to where she will die. She dies seeing the joy of your loved ones as they swing rocks at her and cheer for her death despite her being loved among the community. Tessie was selfish in trying to prevent her death; in the end she was scared of being different or having her name called.
Overall, the danger presented by both authors for the tradition followed by the village in “The Lottery” and the need to hunt bigger targets followed by General Zaroff in “The Most Dangerous Game” leaders readers to conclude that blindly following an ideal can lead to death in “The Most Dangerous Game” General Zaroff is killed in his own bed by Rainsford.

He thought he could outsmart the world-renowned hunter, but he failed. In “The Lottery” Tessie follows through with the Lottery until her maiden name is called. She is heard claiming the drawing is not fair, while before Mrs. Adams exclaimed that, “Some places have already quit the lotteries” to which Old man Warner responded stoutly, “Nothing but trouble in that,” (Jackson 4). By including this small section of a young Mrs. Adams bringing up an end to the lottery and the older, more stubborn, Old Man Warner stating it’s no good shows the reader that if Tessie had accepted not to follow beforehand she may have not died (Jackson 4). This adds a certain layer of balefulness that the lottery is not something most look forward

to.
Authors use third person in stories for the purpose of allowing the readers to understand the characters from their own perspective. The point of view is not stuck to a main character allowing the readers to develop their own ideas of the characters and their situations. Richard and Shirley use third person to let the reader experience the story as if they were looking in from the outside, to let the reader make their own judgment and become one with the story. The reader isn’t forced into a mold of a first-person protagonist, but rather they left the reader to interpret on their own along the way. In “The most Dangerous Game” and in “The Lottery” it was important not to just stick to one person the whole story because then the reader cannot visualize and see other vital details.
Also, not only do the writers use the same technique, they also use murdering people as a type of game. In “The Lottery” the people enter a lottery and stone people. One citizen even says “Be a good sport” which infers there is somewhat of a connection between entertainment and killing. In “The Most Dangerous Game” the hunting of Rainsford is an actual game for the hunter Zaroff. There is an obvious connection between murder and games between these two short stories. The reason for this connection is to reveal to the reader that blindly following traditions or games is dangerous. Ultimately, something that is inhumane gradually becomes humane in the “right” setting, however these two stories present that traditions can be met with opposition which proves fatal for Tessie and General Zaroff.
Richard Connell and Shirley Jackson share the ideas of danger and fear, but the stories are very different in the way the characters handle fear and danger. The main character in “The Most Dangerous Game” is Rainsford, a world known hunter with many books. Richard made him a fearless man in order to allude to the reader that even a brave man can become engulfed with fear. The main character in “The Lottery” is Tessie, she is a selfish woman who tries to cheat death. These two characters are very different when put to the test of death.
Richard Connell’s and Shirley Jackson’s short stories both elaborate on the feelings of fear and danger but differ in how their characters handle those situations. Overall, authors use imagery and ideas of real world problems in fictional situations to give readers an intriguing story. From these stories readers can gain new perspectives and learn the world around them is not black and white. The human psychological condition can never truly prepare us for what we think we would do when death is knocking on our door.

Work Cited
Connell, Richard Edward. The Most Dangerous Game. Collier's, 1924.
Jackson, Shirley. The Lottery. The New Yorker, 1948.
“Richard Connell.” Short Stories and Classic Literature, americanliterature.com/author/richard-connell
“Shirley Jackson's Bio.” Shirley Jackson's Bio, 2009, shirleyjackson.org.