Preview

Compare and Contrast of "the lottery" and "AVOMWEW"

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
507 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Compare and Contrast of "the lottery" and "AVOMWEW"
Humans sometimes feel that stereotypical beliefs or values are the black and white of life. In contrast, people are also unfitted to accept misleading truth. The perpetuation of archaic gender roles in “The Lottery” and the inability to accept unconventional truth in “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” highlights the negative effects of unexamined or misplaced values. In the attempt to accept truth, the townspeople in “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” finds out the truth in an unexpected manner. The incapability to accept unconventional truth in “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” explains the negative effects of unexamined values and beliefs. For example, the family in “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” calls in a neighbor woman who knows everything about life and death to see the man. “He’s an angel... He must have been coming for the child, but the poor fellow is so old that the rain knocked him down.” People will often turn to, or use religion as an alternative to examine truth. “The Parish priest had his first suspicion of an imposter when he saw that he did not understand the language of God or know how to greet his ministers.” When realizing the truth is not unorthodox, the pieces of the puzzle start to fall into place. “That was how Father Gonzaga was cured forever of his insomnia and Pelayo’s courtyard went back to being as empty as during the time it had rained for three days and crabs walked through the bedrooms. Generally speaking, accepting unconventional truth leads to stereotypical beliefs. The longevity of archaic gender roles in “the lottery” highlights the negative effects of misplaced beliefs or values. For example, when the “wife draws for her husband” it feels very out of place. The townspeople are not used to a woman drawing let alone draw for her husband. “Don’t you have a grown boy to do it for you, Janey?” In these times, the men and boys are the leaders of households and hold the authority out in public compared to women.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    “may the odds be ever in your favor. (The Hunger Games, 2012)” In The Lottery and The Hunger Games, the odds are most important things because odds affect the fate. In The Hunger Games, people should have some skills for killing, fighting with other people, and protecting themselves. Like this, The Lottery and The Hunger Games have some difference and similarity. Although The Lottery and The Hunger Games have different way of drawing the lottery and The Lottery and The Hunger Games are differ in the last circumstances of the winners, In The Lottery and The Hunger Games’ people show conformity.…

    • 101 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In her story “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson, utilizes symbolism to underline the importance of questioning tradition. Her story, “The Lottery,” begins in a small intimate village of about 300 people. In this little village, tradition is important because it must be practiced in order to help get better crops throughout the year. The way these crops are produce is by one person getting sacrificed via stoning once every year, and that is led by Mr. Summers. Though this tradition is practiced yearly, not everyone in this village is content about the sacrificial aspect of this tradition, creating conflict in the story when Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson, the one being sacrificed, chooses to rebel against this established institution tradition. Though she…

    • 168 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this paper, I will compare two literature fiction based short stories. I will compare “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “The Rocking Horse Winner” by D.H Lawrence. These are two dynamic, but suspenseful short stories. They are very different in tone and style, but they have similar tragic ironies in areas of the stories. Both of the stories leaves the reader in suspense throughout it, but definitely at the strong emotional endings.…

    • 831 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In many cultures, such as European in society, women are perceived as the primary caretaker of the home among other oppressive notions that pertain to them. They were in charge of organizing social events, maintaining the family’s reputation, cooking, and cleaning occasionally with assistance from their children. They were considered to be of less value than their male counterparts and, thus, were not permitted the opportunity to have a role in politics, religion, and society. Since the time of Shakespeare, the majority of gender inequities in society have been abolished, and a new era of complete equality is on the horizon. However, there are barriers of ignorance, whose sole purpose is to hinder progression, that people have yet to break. Women have made efforts to gain equality in society since the 1800’s as seen by the writer and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft who wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, the first great feminist treatise. It listed and discussed her grievances concerning gender inequality and had a total influence on the art of travel writing as well as the Romantic Movement. A sign of this progress in society, other than women’s introduction into several facets of society (i.e. entertainment, business, politics, etc.), is the adoption of gender role reversal, partly due to its comedic portrayal in television but also its necessity in some homes. As expected, there were some who were more conservative towards gender equality such as, William Shakespeare which was seen in his gruesome play, Macbeth that used this idea of general role reversal to oppose this idea.…

    • 898 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shirley Jackson portrays her characters as people who adhere to traditional gender roles and rituals in her short story The Lottery. The head of the household or “the men come up and take a paper out of the box” (3), obtaining the power to draw and decide the fate of their respective families. Young Bobby Martin only listens to his father, as seen when “His father spoke up sharply, and Bobby came quickly and took his place between his father and his oldest brother.” (1). Shirley Jackson portrays the role of women in the Midwest as a less significant role in comparison to men, suggesting a traditional patriarchal system. In the small Midwestern town of The Lottery, traditional ritual is also followed without question. Even though the “villagers had forgotten the ritual” (7), they still went on with tradition and blindly follow it nevertheless. In The Heartland’s Role in US Culture: It’s ‘Main Street’, James R. Shortridge addresses the question “how could a place concurrently be a land of “traditional” farmers and “modern” industrialists?” (41). Shortridge acknowledges that the Midwest is a home for traditional farmers and that “rural imagery continued” (41). The people of the Midwest are rich in tradition and this is mostly due to traditional farming and…

    • 829 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Shirley Jackson 's short story "The Lottery" she represents an average society with seemingly common order and widely developed traditions which everybody is forced or even glad to follow whatever they are. First we see how everybody has traditionally defined roles within the community: men, women and even children know well how they are expected to behave. Men are the dominating part; they have the right to make decisions for their families. Women have a subordinate position: they are supposed to "walk shortly after their menfolk" (328) and to work only at home. Children are involved in the social life and supposed to learn its traditions from an early age. A surprising thing is that nobody finds anything bad in this or tries to rebel. Afterwards, we see that full obedience to the social order leads to the support of the main tradition - the annual ritual of choosing a "winner" in the…

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    defined in the moment after the ball, when she looks in the mirror and discovers the loss…

    • 333 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    An Ideal Husband Analysis

    • 1002 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Conversations between characters in the play are the best indicators of the exact position that women hold in the community. Several issues of interest for instance how men and women feel about each other is clearly seen from the dialogue. Apart from quotes that are found in this play, other sources have been used to explain the same theme of women’s position in the society. The play is a clear indication of what happens in the real life settings. For example in 1890s in England, women did not hold same social status like men. Women were seen as inferior in the society. The life of men was valued more than women’s life. To support these inequalities between men and women, this paper has used examples of issues like lack of equal voting rights where women did not have a right to vote. Oscar Wilde focused on such issues to come up with his play. In the recent years, the position that women hold in society in England has risen. Women are currently allowed to do some things that they were not allowed to do in the past years. Currently, men and women are treated equally concerning different matters affecting their normal…

    • 1002 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gender Roles In Macbeth

    • 1778 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The institution of gender roles in many places around the world is controversial to many people, especially because of their depiction, and therefore enforcement, in modern entertainment such as movies and books. For a play written sometime in the early seventeenth century, (Greenblatt 537), Macbeth displays an unusual, varied, and at times modern representation of gender roles. In particular, Shakespeare makes his female characters the driving force behind the plot, which is evident when looking at their utilization in the story.…

    • 1778 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    ali da malanf

    • 289 Words
    • 2 Pages

    that even though they know little to none about the origin of the lottery ,they…

    • 289 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Another gender issue brought up in the story "The Lottery" is the economic basis of marriage. The man was the economic base of the family and everyone in the story assumes that a wife's money is her husband's to dispose of. "He could do almost…

    • 798 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Lottery shows humanity’s blind acceptance of tradition. The short story represents the tendency in human nature to not think before one acts. The villagers blindly lack the purpose of the lottery. This article provides critical background.…

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Trifles Essay

    • 1139 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Throughout history there has always been gender roles between men and women. People viewed men as the workers who bring home the money and are more powerful and capable of doing things. Women were viewed as housekeepers, basically to stay home all day, clean the house, prepare food, and take care of the kids. In Susan Glaspell’s play “Trifles” Gender roles were shown through how men and women think, their “capabilities”, and intelligence.…

    • 1139 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    1. Where do you think "The Lottery" takes place? What purpose do you suppose the writer has in making this setting appear so familiar and ordinary?…

    • 1336 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The sole purpose of the lottery is a theme not directly answered throughout the short story. However the motif of tradition revolves around the course of the lottery triggering debates on whether some controversial traditions should be changed or even abolished. Our forefathers created many traditions around the world centuries ago, which leaves less debate on whether these traditions are ethical. The effects of these traditions leave sometimes damaging legacies on our behaviour as humans. In “The Lottery”, the effects of their tradition had deadly and disastrous results for the community, taking the life of one of its members. When reflecting on the consequences of the lottery, we come to question how our own traditions influence our behaviour. Some traditions such as Thanksgiving and Christmas revolve around the idea of giving, and being benevolent to all. In…

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays