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Differences between the hunger games and the lottery
A character analysis essay the lottery by shirley jackson
Character analysis in the lottery
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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.
First, Both stories show that the main characters Peeta, Katniss, Bill, and Tesse follow tradition because no one would dare go against it. In “The Hunger Games” demands are given from the capitol for two tributes to be chosen from a district regardless of their status. “The Hunger Games” began because of civil uprising and to remind citizens to stay in their place. One of the characters Peeta says “I wish that I could show the Capitol they don't own me, that I am more than just a piece in their games”(Collins). He knows that the districts having to suffer because of the lost against the capitol is wrong but he knows that tradition must be followed or else. In the beginning of The Lottery citizens from a small town all gather together in the town square for the lottery. With only three-hundred people in the town the lottery only takes two h...
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...Andersen) . Both stories rely on tradition in order for society to function. Katniss and Tesse realize that if they do not participate that harm will fall upon their families. To keep order and balance tradition, no matter how cruel and harsh must be followed. Sacrifice is beneficial to both of these stories because without sacrifice the characters would put their families in a bad situation unless they stepped up to the plate. Both The Hunger Games and The Lottery demonstrate that “The odds aren't always forever in there favor” (Collins).
Works Cited
Collins, Suzanne. "The Hunger Games." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2014.
Jackson, Shirley. "The Lottery." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2014.
Andersen, Kia. "Kia Papaya's Blog." : Thematic Comparison between The Hunger Games and The Lottery. Blogspot.com, Mar.-Apr. 2012. Web. 01 Apr. 2014.
In “The Lottery” the author uses many different types of themes to inspire the reader to feel certain emotions. Themes such as the perils of blindly sticking to outdated traditions. Traditions such as sacrificial murder in which some ancient societies believed that “Life brings death, and death recycles life” (Griffin); this shows how some readers could accept the actions depicted in this story. Yet another way of looking at it and finding a way to accept it is that it’s been said that capital punishment today is a form of ritualistic killing. But other readers may just see it as cold blooded murder in which they may be appalled that some societies could still do this in 1948 when this story was written.
“The Lottery” is a short story about an event that takes place every year in a small village of New England. When the author speaks of “the lottery” he is referencing the lottery of death; this is when the stoning of a village member must give up his or her life. The villagers gather at a designated area and perform a customary ritual which has been practiced for many years. The Lottery is a short story about a tradition that the villagers are fully loyal to and represents a behavior or idea that has been passed down from generation to generation, accepting and following a rule no matter how cruel or illogical it is. Friends and family become insignificant the moment it is time to stone the unlucky victim.
Abcarian, Richard, and Marvin Klotz. "The Lottery." Literature: the Human Experience. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martin's, 2006. 350-56. Print.
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
Tradition is huge in small towns and families and allows for unity through shared values, stories, and goals from one generation to the next. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” carries that theme of tradition. The story follows a small town that performs the tradition of holding an annual lottery in which the winner gets stoned to death. It (tradition) is valued amongst human societies around the world, but the refusal of the villagers in “The Lottery” to let go of a terrifying long-lasting tradition suggests the negative consequences of blindly following these traditions such as violence and hypocrisy.
Shirley Jackson's “The Lottery” is a short story about the annual gathering of the villagers to conduct an ancient ritual. The ritual ends in the stoning of one of the residents of this small village. This murder functions under the guise of a sacrament that, at one time, served the purpose of ensuring a bountiful harvest. This original meaning, however, is lost over the years and generations of villagers. The loss of meaning has changed the nature and overall purpose of the lottery. This ritual is no longer a humble sacrifice that serves the purpose of securing the harvest but instead is a ceremony of violence and murder only existing for the pleasure found in this violence.
Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a chilling tale of a harsh ritualistic gathering conducted by people of a small village. The word lottery would typically remind someone of a drawing to win a cash prize. A better comparison to the story would be the lottery used to select troops for the Vietnam War; a lottery of death. Another would be the human sacrifices the Aztecs willingly made long ago.
A Tale of Two Cities was written during the Victorian Era, while The Hunger Games was written in the year 2008. One could learn that people during the Victorian Era were more independent than the people of the present due to the fact that Carton works in secret without any help while Katniss has a mentor helping her throughout the story. Another aspect that could be learned is the difference between the audiences of the two novels. The Hunger Games, was written towards young adults, which is why the novel has a happy ending. On the other hand, A Tale Of Two Cities was written for adults in the middle and lower class, which is evident in the fact that the hero of the novel did not
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson Americans day after day live much of their lives following time-honored traditions that are passed down from one generation to another. From simple everyday cooking and raising children, to holidays and other family rituals, tradition plays a significant role in how they go about their everyday lives. In Shirley Jackson's short story, "The Lottery," the citizens of a small farming town follow one such tradition. A point is made regarding human nature in relation to tradition. The story begins on a beautiful summer afternoon.
Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery.” Masterplots, Fourth Edition (2010): 1-3. Literary Reference Center. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.
Set in 1948 and published in The New Yorker, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson describes a village ritual of sacrifice. Contrary to the positive feeling associated with the word “lottery,” the story strikes fear into the readers’ hearts as the winner is stoned to death. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” uses symbolism and genre conventions of a classic dystopian story to show the different ways in which human cruelty can occur.
In The Hunger Games, the inequality between the rich and the poor is the biggest theme presented in the book. Throughout the book, Katniss mentions that starvation is common in District 12, and she has often gone hunting illegally in the woods for food for her family. This is an example of how the rich and the poor are separated. Wealth is only centralized in the hands of the rich, while the poor are left to starve, leaving disparity. The best examples of the inequality between the rich and the poor is seen in the tessera system, and the way the tributes are selected for the games. In the novel, they have what is called “the reaping”, which is the lottery at which they choose the tributes for the games. It is said in the book that the poor is more likely to be picked than the rich are. In the tessera system, children
The first theme in the movie that is similar to that of mythology is sacrifice. “The Hunger Games” begins with the reaping, a ceremony where one male and one female child from each District are chosen to participate in the Hunger Games to fight to the death. The children are chosen as a sacrifice to pay for the past wrong doings of their ancestors. The ritual begins and a video plays to the audience stating “This is a reminder of the rebellion, a price the districts have to pay. Freedom has a cost; we swore as a nation that we would never know this treason again. So it was said that one female and one male child from each district will be chosen each year to fight to the death as tribute. This is how we remember our past, this is how we secure our future.” The requirement of a sacrifice to ensure survival and food will be available for the future is similar to the sacrifices of many ancient cultures; specifically that of Egyptian myth. Osiris was killed and his body torn to shreds by his brother, Set. Everywhere that Osiris’ body was spread; abundant crops grew as a supply from the Gods. This also relates to the myth of Persephone, who was kidnapped by Pluto and brought to the underworld. Each year when Persephone returned to earth the world would flower with abundant growth, when Persephone went back to the underworld, all plant life ceased to exist until she returned again. This shows ...
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.
Controlling population to “help” their economy. Fights to the death, or an instant death sentence. “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson show the controlling of the population and the death aspect of the controlling. In the movie “The Hunger Games” families line up at the center of the district and one boy and one girl’s name is drawn out of a bowl and they are sent to fight against the other eleven districts to the death. In the story The lottery all of the families line up to have the head of the family draw a piece of paper. If the head of household draws card with a black dot on it the whole family has to come up and draw. The person in the family that gets the black dot gets stones thrown at them till they die. “The Hunger Games” and “The Lottery” are actually very similar. In both the stories they had to drawn to find out who would die or