A man named William James, an American philosopher, once said, “Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.”
Shortcomings in society lead to instances of discrimination, prejudice, and coerciveness. Barbara Jordan says that, “We as human beings, must be willing to accept people who are different from ourselves."
If we forget to accept the situation at hand and the consequences of the next step we take, we have a tendency to assume and overreact.
In the short story “What, of This Goldfish, Would You Wish?” Sergei discriminates against Yoni because he is a stranger. “...one day some kid with a ring in his ear . . . comes knocking. Hard like that—rapping at his door. Just the way Sergei
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doesn't like” (lines 70 - 72) Sergei does not accept Yoni’s behavior and does not act rationally because he has had poor experiences with the KGB knocking on his door; Yoni’s knocking triggers his bad memories, so he does not act rationally.
Sergei assumes that Yoni wanted to steal his fish and he does not trust him for that reason. “In this instant Sergei understands the boy didn’t come for television, what he came for, specifically, is to snatch Sergei’s fish, to steal it away” (lines 97 - 99)
The author Etgar Keret, as well as the authors of the other articles in this unit, view that people’s differences should be accepted and respected. Keret’s views on acceptance and the quote by Barbara Jordan share a theme in that human beings should not be compared nor contrasted to other human beings out of respect. People may be different in that of behavior, tone, or social status, but that cannot stop us from understanding them and what they do; understanding is one of the many steps to acceptance.
In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the elders of the community would not accept the fact that times change as new generations arise. Old Man Warner exclaims his beliefs that the younger age in the community does not understand the meaning of the lottery and they are not well versed on the subject. “Pack of crazy fools," he
said. "Listening to the young folks, nothing's good enough for them.” (lines 194 - 195) Old Man Warner is too stubborn and denial about the fact that the lottery is disappearing from their culture. “There's always been a lottery” (line 200) Jackson believes that people’s differences in opinion, political stance, etc. should be honored and they should not be coerced into events such as the lottery. The author’s ideas are remarkably similar to Etgar Krete’s and they share a common theme with Jordan’s quote about acceptance and understanding. In the majority opinion of Texas V. Johnson, the people had to accept Johnson’s action in burning the flag because it was his right to express himself in any way he chose to. The law cannot punish him for his actions because “... the flag that stands for the right to those expressions.” (American Flag Stands for Tolerance lines 67 - 68) To discipline Johnson for his political protest would be unjust would soil the sanctity of the First Amendment. “...is not to say that it may criminally punish a person for burning a flag as a means of political protest.” (Texas V. Johnson Majority Opinion lines 4 - 6) It appears that William J. Brennan believes that, similar to Keret and Jackson, people should be able to express themselves in their own way and be accepted for it. Barbara Jordan and William Brennan share the idea that acceptance is a key to a prosperous life on the earth we live on. As shown in the articles and short stories “What, of This Goldfish, Would You Wish?”, “The Lottery”, and “Texas V. Johnson Majority Opinion” acceptance of people and their social or political differences is vital to coexisting in this world. No matter the reasons, people are different and that is immutable.
In the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the reader is introduced to a utopian community who practice the tradition of a lottery every year. At first glance, it seems like a nice day and the kids are just collecting rocks while waiting for their parents to arrive. All of the citizens show some excitement over the upcoming the lottery. The text states,
“The Lottery” is a satire that is meant to shock and provoke readers with the prospect that societal contentment and tradition can evoke the emersion of illogical and harmful actions. The author, Shirley Jackson, understands that the proper use of symbolism and character archetypes is followed by a more impactful story. “The Lottery” opens with children who are out of school for summer break “[on a clear and sunny… day.” (Jackson, 1948, p. 221). Such an innocuous, familiar scene, might elicit from the reader nostalgic, whimsical memories of childhood play. Appropriately, the children in this story represent the innocent, susceptible future generation of the town. They do not seem to fully fathom the severity of the lottery or the abhorrent nature of the violence associated with the town’s traditions. For this reason, the reader most likely develops an expectation that this story will be a pleasant and optimistic one that takes place on a beautiful sunny day and involves the laughter and tomfoolery of young happy kids.
In The Lottery, year after year, even since Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town, was a child, the same ritual has gone on. It is as if the community never learns from its previous mistakes. As long as no one in the town speaks up about such a twisted yearly event, nothing is ever going to change. If Martin Luther King or Malcolm X wouldn’t have raised their voices against the prejudice that they had experienced their entire lives, we might still be living in a segregated world, which was once thought to be “okay.” This is similar to The Lottery, in which the townspeople are brainwashed into believing that this ritual is normal. For example, Old Man Warner is outraged when he hears that the north village might give up the lottery, calling...
The short story ‘The Lottery’ reveals a village of 300 that assemble for a lottery on June 27th every year. The lottery has been held this day for years and years, and has become a classic tradition. The lottery itself is holy to much of its residents, like Mr. Watson, who states that the village in the north is a pack of young crazy fools for removing the lottery. “Listening to the young folks, nothing’s good enough for them. Next thing you know, they’ll be wanti...
Barbara Jordan states; “We, as human beings, must be willing to accept people who are different from ourselves.” This quote, in other words, is basically saying that we must accept people for who they are, even if they are different from you. The articles we have read this week all relate to this quote because they all deal with issues of people making choices that other people don’t agree with. The three articles I will be talking about are; Texas V. Johnson Majority Opinion, American Flag Stands for Tolerance and PRO/CON: Should Apple have resisted FBI pressure to hack an iPhone?
'They do say,' Mr. Adams said to Old Man Warner, who stood next to him, 'that over in the north village they're talking of giving up the lottery.' Old Man Warner snorted. 'Pack of crazy fools,' he said. 'Listening to the young folks, nothing's good enough for them. Next thing you know, they'll be wanting to go back to living in caves, nobody work any more, live hat way for a while. Used to be a saying about 'Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.' First thing you know, we'd all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns. There's always been a lottery,' he added petulantly (Jackson 4).
“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson opens on a warm June day in unnamed village where people are waiting for the annual event which is the lottery. This ‘tradition’ is also held in other surrounding towns for a long time. Everyone in the town, including the children, participates in this event, yet not all of them are satisfied about it. Meanwhile some people show their dissatisfaction, yet they are unable to criticize this act directly. During the process of the lottery, which does not take more than couple of hours, some of the characters such as Mrs. Dunbar , Mr. and Mrs. Adams and Mrs. Hutchinson question the lottery, yet they are not voicing their protest clearly. This vagueness in showing dissatisfaction is related to the idea that most of the people in the town are accepting this ‘outdated’ trad...
“The Lottery" is a story of tradition and the weakness to see past it. There are about 300 people in this small village. The oldest man in this story is 77 and the tradition dates back before his time so that the village can have a good harvest. No matter the age, any person in this village with the black do will get killed. Tessie Hutchinson tries to slim
Shirley Jackson’s “Lottery” satirically creates a society that puts the importance of tradition above even the life of the members of the community, as indicated by Old Man Warner’s response to Mr. Adams stating, “‘[O]ver in the north village they’re talking of giving up the lottery.’ Old Man Warner snorted. ‘Pack of crazy fools … Listening to the young folks, nothing’s good enough for them … There’s always been a lottery,’ he added petulantly” (413). Here Old Man Warner defends the tradition of their society, though notably without justifying the tradition. Rather, he focuses on the people of other villages and the tradition as self-evident, both logical fallacies. The first argument he makes in favor of continuing to have a lottery is an ad
Based on “What, of This Goldfish, Would You Wish?”, “Texas v. Johnson Majority Opinion”, and my own experience, our relationships with others define who we are by the feelings that arise when in a situation involving something personal. In the “What, of This Goldfish, Would You Wish?”, Yonatan goes around to people’s homes and interview the people for his documentary. He makes his way to Sergei’s house to ask him a questions. Sergei does not like strangers banging on his door, especially when they are asking him questions. “Sergei tells the boy, tells him in what he thinks is a straightforward manner that he doesn’t want it. Not interested. Sergei gives the camera a shove, to help make it clear. But the earring boy is stubborn”
“The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson is about a town coming together to hold a lottery. The twist being the winner of the lottery gets stoned to death by the town members. No one really know why their town and the ones surrounding it keep the practice going. But no one stops the ceremony they just know it is an event that happens every year for the past seventy seven years. Through the characters and the ritual of the lottery Jackson demonstrates how people blindly follow their traditions without knowing their history.
In today’s society we perceive the lottery as being a great fortune brought down upon you by Lady Luck. It is a serendipitous event, even if the person has done nothing to earn it. One would never see the lottery as an unfortunate occasion that occurred in your life because it is supposed to bring prosperity into your life. Also, one would not dare to think that winning the lottery would bring such repercussions as injury or death. In the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the author could have used Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson as the town’s scapegoat due to their reluctance to change traditions, her horrible work ethic, and minority status as a woman.
The Lottery was a ritual that happened on June 27th of each year. Everyone would gather in the middle of the town and from there each head of the household would draw a piece of paper from a black box. As the story proceeds you can see that people were getting impatient and making remarks like "I wish they'd hurry (The Lottery, pg. 4)." Other people were making comments like "Some places have already quit lotteries (The Lottery, pg. 4)."
The lottery is families turning against each other. I heard Bill yell “Shut up, Tessie,"(Jackson 56) these two are husband and wife. They have kids and “someone gave little Davy Hutchinson few pebbles. ”(Jackson 58)
The Race in Human Race Discrimination, the act of segregating someone because of how they look, where they are from, and what they happen to believe in. Sadly, this is one of the many perspectives people view and know discrimination as. As disappointing as this may sound, a populace of people in the U.S. still has the audacity to rudely segregate people into racial, religious, and sexual preference into groups that eventually lead to conflicts within communities. Thus, three reasons why people should accept others who are different from themselves is because it would allow us to be more open-minded about racial prejudice, evolve and grow as a community, and prevent social conflicts.