"To Build a Fire" is a story by Jack London, about the struggles of a man to survive in a desperate situation in the wilderness. "The Lottery," by Shirley Jackson, is a tale of mindless adherence to tradition, conformity, and violence in a rural town. On the surface it seems like these are two entirely different stories. For all of their differences, though, the stories both address the same issue.
"To Build a Fire" begins with an unnamed protagonist walking along a path in the Yukon in dangerously cold conditions. He is accompanied by a dog, and is trying to reach his friends. During his journey he breaks through ice covering running water, and gets wet up to his knees. Forced to build a fire by the combination of wetness and deadly cold, he is thwarted when snow falls from the tree above, putting out the fire. He cannot get it going again, as he is too cold and stiff to manage it. His last desperate attempts to warm himself or find help fail, and he dies of the cold.
"The Lottery" takes the form of a description of a day near midsummer in a rural town. The townsfolk are preparing for some ancient ritual that they have done as a matter of tradition for as long as anyone can remember. It is clearly a lottery of some sort, and there is a superstition that this lottery will ensure a good harvest. As the story progresses, a representative of each family draws a piece of paper. The family holding a paper with a black mark on it then holds a second drawing, and the member selected is killed by the other townsfolk.
London's story is a gritty, realistic depiction of a man taking foolish risks in a situation that he is not qualified to handle. Despite having been warned by an old man not to attempt the journey alone, he journeys alone. De...
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...paper. It does not attempt to question the reason for the lottery itself.
This is where the stories speak to the same ends: the depiction of the limitations and dangers of human intelligence. Each story in its own way shows human cleverness as a thing of limited value, just enough to put people in genuine danger but not enough to help them avoid it. London's story showcases human intelligence as being of less use than animal instinct. The fact that the protagonist had no name, and was referred to only as "the man," indicates that he is just supposed to be a person, any person. This shows that London's critique was of people as a whole, rather than one person in particular. The everyday rural small town setting of the lottery indicates that its inhabitants are supposed to be typical, ordinary people. The human animal in each story is a foolish and dangerous creature.
These descriptions along with several others) provide positive connotations and allow the reader to relax into what they are. seems to be a comfortable setting for either story. Both stories also contain a gathering of the townspeople. In ".Omelas there is music, dance, and special. attire incorporated in the gathering, whereas in "The Lottery," the women show.
The two stories are both centered on a particular person in the story. “The Lottery” was centered round Tessie Hutchinsen who happened to be the unlucky one to have picked the marked paper and had to be stoned to death. Tessie was at that period, the only one who saw the unfairness of the situation. She screams, “It isn't fair, it isn't right,” as they stone her. It was in this same manner that the barber viewed the colonel’s actions as being unfair. “How many of us had he ordered shot? How many of us had he ordered mutilate...
Shirley Jackson wrote many books in her life, but she was well known by people for her story “The Lottery” (Hicks). “The Lottery” was published on June 28, 1948, in the New Yorker magazine (Schilb). The story sets in the morning of June 27th in a small town. The townspeople gather in the square to conduct their annual tradition, the Lottery. The winner of the lottery will stoned to death by the society. Although there is no main character in the story, the story develops within other important elements. There are some important elements of the story that develop the theme of the story: narrator and its point of view, symbolism, and main conflict. The story “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, argues practicing a tradition without understanding the meaning of the practice is meaningless and dangerous.
Jackson, Shirley.. "The Lottery." Trans. Array Literature, An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama and Writing. . Seventh. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson, 2013. 250-256. Print.
"The Lottery," a short story written by Shirley Jackson, is a tale about a disturbing social practice. The setting takes place in a small village consisting of about three hundred denizens. On June twenty-seventh of every year, the members of this traditional community hold a village-wide lottery in which everyone is expected to participate. Throughout the story, the reader gets an odd feeling regarding the residents and their annual practice. Not until the end does he or she gets to know what the lottery is about. Thus, from the beginning of the story until almost the end, there is an overwhelming sense that something terrible is about to happen due to the Jackson's effective use of foreshadowing through the depiction of characters and setting. Effective foreshadowing builds anticipation for the climax and ultimately the main theme of the story - the pointless nature of humanity regarding tradition and cruelty.
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
There are some similarities and differences in how the authors developed their theme, between the novel, The Giver and the short story, The Lottery. One similarity, in that both stories involves that they were both ruled by tradition and force and what they believed was right, without questioning. One difference, that in the short story, people have the choice to not participate and fight back, where’s in novel they can’t. In The Giver, a young boy named Jonas, lives in a dystopian society in which there’s little or no pain, emotion, and freedom. Jonas is named the new receiver of memories and he’s the apprentice to The Giver who passes on memories of the past, filled with both happiness and pain. In “The Lottery”, a small town holds a lottery
It would be hard to think people being killed and people without morals would be similar, but The Lord of the Flies and "The Lottery" have a lot of differences and that is what makes them interesting. William Golding and Shirley Jackson wrote some similar stories. However, some differences between The Lord of the Flies and The Lottery are the motives for persecuting someone, the setting and the way people are killed.
The Hunger Games and “The Lottery” are similar in regards to symbolism and tradition although they differ in characters. Both of
The two stories start off with the same calm tone. ‘...fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green.” from the first line of “The Lottery” is similar to “the air of morning was so clear that the snow still crowning the Eighteen Peaks burned with white-gold fire across the miles of sunlit air, under the dark blue of the sky” in the first paragraph of “...Omelas”. The authors do this to create a more dramatic reaction to what secrets will be revealed about the villages.
The stories, “The Things they Carried” by Tim O’Brien and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, have some similar characteristics and others are different. Keeping a tradition, however, in “The Things they Carried” the main character actually wakes up and changes how he is and becomes more realistic. Unlike “The lottery” where everyone is participating in a murder but not noticing what they are actually doing; to them it is a tradition. The settings are quite the opposite in these stories and also how the characters act. The theme of these stories are the same, however there are other elements that are different in these stories, such as their settings and characters.
The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson, revolves around a series of traditions that no one seems to follow anymore. This story begins by explaining how the lottery process works. It takes place on June 27 of every year. All the people of the village gather in the town's square- husbands, wives, and children. Each head of household pulls a small piece of paper out of a black box. All but one piece of paper will be blank. The piece with the black-penciled spot is the piece that will send someone in that family to death. After that piece of paper is pulled from the box the members of that family must draw. The member that pulls the spotted paper out gets stoned to ...
In conclusion, the use of symbolism, irony and setting in the Lottery is very evident, the author indirectly implicates the true darkness within the human heart. The Lottery remains relevant in society today because the overall vagueness of the city allows this story to be true to all people around the world. The short story shows us that humans are evil enough to follow traditions blindly, even if they cause pain and death in loved ones we know. Jackson also centers a lot of symbols and irony on religion and how they affect our culture and decisions. In this the reader can learn that sometimes it’s better for a person to follow his moral compass, and not just blindly follow his evil heart, and the evilness of others.
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.
Jack London brings man versus nature discussion into his story. The environment, however doesn't play against him for say, but does warn him from the very beginning. The audience can conclude that just like “the man” everyone is alone in the world - fighting for ourselves and the things we wish to acquire. The character created by London is isolated from the universe and fooli...