StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

The Stories: The Lottery and The Most Dangerous Game - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
This essay "The Stories: The Lottery and The Most Dangerous Game" is about the contrast between the themes, of whereas S. Jackson’s “The Lottery” tells about the reality of mankind’s cruelty, R. Connel’s “The Most Dangerous Game” deals with the savagery of a hunter who finds trapped in his action…
Download free paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER93.3% of users find it useful
The Stories: The Lottery and The Most Dangerous Game
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "The Stories: The Lottery and The Most Dangerous Game"

In both stories, the central characters, like Tessie Hutchinson in “Lottery”, Rainsford and General Zarrof in “the Most Dangerous Game” are sportively desirous to inflict pains and deaths on their victims. These characters cannot realize what the victims feel until they themselves become trapped in their own actions. Also, both Jackson and Connell propound that the gap between the victims and the victimizers remains unfathomable since the victimizers ultimately remain triumphant and the victims remain unheard and subsequently are put to death.

Both Jackson and Connell significantly have depicted the distance between the victimizer and the victimized in their stories. The victimizer or the hunter will never feel victimized or the hunted. Even if they find themselves in their victims’ position, they will remain unheard. Jackson’s protagonist Mrs. Hutchinson arrives at the celebration of the lottery festival late, but in a dutiful as well as playful manner, seeking others’ excuse as follows: “Clean forgot what day it was…Thought my old man was out back stacking wood….and then I looked out the window and the kids were gone, and then I remembered it” (Jackson) In the conversation with Mrs. Delacroix, she acknowledges that this it is “the twenty-seventh celebration” of the lottery festival which is indeed a lynching game. Therefore, she has already observed and celebrated twenty-six deaths of others. So far she has acted as a part of her community, the collective victimizer that celebrates its members’ death. But this time, she herself is going to be the victim. She as well as her objection to the unfairness of the ritual will remain unheard, as she herself has not paid heed to other victims.

Connell also portrays this distance between the victimizer and the victimized. For Rainsford and General, Zarrof hunting is “The best sport in the world” (Connell). When Whitney comments that hunting is a sport only “for the hunter, not for the jaguar,” Rainsford objects, “Who cares how a jaguar feels?” (Connell) This refusal of Rainsford that the jaguars or the hunted have understanding and “The fear of pain and the fear of death” is almost ironic, since he himself becomes terrified and appalled at Zarrof’s man-hunting game. Indeed Zarrof is Rainsford’s own mirror image. Before being Rainsford’s victim, Zarrof wishes to play with him, since man-hunting is his favorite game. Forced by Zarrof he participates in his man-hunting game and eventually becomes triumphant over Zarrof. Still, he fails to understand a victim’s fear for life and kills Zarrof. Even nearing death Rainsford’s failure to perceive his victim’s death, ultimately turns him into a beast. Indeed he figuratively admits near the end of the story: “I am still a beast at bay” (Connel).

Rainsford’s self-acknowledgment of his beast-like image obviously refers to the dark savagery that dwells in modern man’s heart. This existential savagery of human beings is also evident in “the Lottery”. Referring to the collective savagery, Amy Griffin says, “[Jackson] wanted to dramatize graphically the "pointless violence" in people's lives…to reveal the general inhumanity of man. Jung's view is that even "more or less civilized" people remain inwardly primitive” (1). The hypocrisy and the savagery in human society revealed through Shirley’s and Connel’s crafty use of irony appear to draw these pains and suffering upon themselves because in some way or other some of them are doomed to undergo the horror of being stoned. Both of the authors employ this literary tool of irony to reveal the underlying savagery and hypocrisy of human nature. Indeed the ironies in the stories are so frivolous and absurd that towards the end of the story, the readers become horrified with the narrator’s jolly portrayal of such an atrocious event like “lottery” that gives people the chance to die with the joyous and happy consent of their acquaintances.

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Comparison and Contrast between the Themes and Purposes of the Essay”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/literature/1397079-comparison-and-contrast-between-the-themes-and-purposes-of-the-stories-the-lottery-and-the-most-dangerous-game
(Comparison and Contrast Between the Themes and Purposes of the Essay)
https://studentshare.org/literature/1397079-comparison-and-contrast-between-the-themes-and-purposes-of-the-stories-the-lottery-and-the-most-dangerous-game.
“Comparison and Contrast Between the Themes and Purposes of the Essay”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/literature/1397079-comparison-and-contrast-between-the-themes-and-purposes-of-the-stories-the-lottery-and-the-most-dangerous-game.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF The Stories: The Lottery and The Most Dangerous Game

Symbolism in Shirley Jacksons The Lottery

In the following paper 'Symbolism in Shirley Jackson's the lottery' the author answers the question: What would happen if there was a small town where people held a yearly lottery in which the 'winner' was the member of the town who was not sacrificed?... The author states that when most people play the lottery today, they think about having wealth.... the lottery in our society has grown to support education and it is often worth several million dollars....
4 Pages (1000 words) Book Report/Review

The Lottery and the Most Dangerous Game

In the paper 'the lottery and the most dangerous game' the author provides a comparison of thematic concerns between 'The Lottery' by Shirley Jackson and 'The Most Dangerous Game' by Richard Connell.... In 'The Lottery' and 'the most dangerous game' the two writers make use of similar yet different themes.... theme of Death and Hunting The theme of death and hunting in the story 'the most dangerous game' denotes not only the game of the predator and the prey but also shows degeneration where the life of any living creature either man or an animal holds no importance....
3 Pages (750 words) Literature review

The Cask of Amontillado

the lottery written by Shirley Jackson is regarded as one of the best short stories to have ever been written in American history, the story deals with a barbaric tradition of stoning people to death and Tessie the central character of the story succumbs to her injuries.... Human nature is presented in the lottery, the barbaric tradition of stone-throwing just never stops, this goes to show that human beings refrain from standing up against something which they consider inappropriate....
4 Pages (1000 words) Book Report/Review

The Lottery and The Rocking-Horse Winner

In the paper 'the lottery and the Rocking-Horse Winner' the author analyzes stories, which share the same conflicts and characters, where protagonists clash with their communities and inner selves, but they are different in setting and themes.... Paul grows up in a household where money is the most important priority.... In the lottery, Shirley Jackson (1948) explores the implications of traditions to individuality and morality.... These stories share the same conflicts and characters, where protagonists clash with their communities and inner selves, but they are different in settings and themes, because the lottery focuses on the fatal consequences of conformity to tradition, while The Rocking-Horse Winner highlights the grave outcomes of greed and materialism....
3 Pages (750 words) Assignment

Fiction comparative and contrast

When contrasting Shirley Jackson's short story “The Lottery” and the story “the most dangerous game” by Richard Connell are publications from different time frames, this particular understanding becomes quite apparent.... When contrasting Shirley Jackson's short story “The Lottery” and the story “the most dangerous game” by Richard Connell are publications from different time frames, this particular understanding becomes quite apparent.... “The Lottery” and “the most dangerous game”....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

The Different Treatment of Death and Violence in Chopin, Thomas, and Jackson

Families chat with each, gossip about daily life, and anticipate the outcome of the lottery.... In the process the reader learns the history of the lottery including the traditional use of it in this specific village.... It is unclear to the reader, for much of the story, exactly what the lottery is and what the winner will receive.... Through the use of similar literary devices the theme of death is explored differently in he Story of an Hour o not go gentle into that good night and he lottery ...
8 Pages (2000 words) Book Report/Review

The Hands and The Lottery: An Analysis of Themes and Objectives

In the lottery, the violence comes at the very end- it is sudden, unexpected for the reader but fully acceptable for the characters.... The crowd is comprised of families who are on good terms with each other; the children play together and the adults indulge in general conversation before the lottery begins.... The plot is about a village lottery which has been a long time tradition; but instead of winning riches or gifts the winner becomes their annual human sacrifice for the In the story titled ‘The Hands' by Sherwood Anderson the reader is introduced the character of Wing Biddlebaum and the incidents in his life which led to prolonged psychological trauma and resulted in him retreating from society at large....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

The History of Gambling

People started to gamble on board games in order to make the game thrilling and interesting.... This paper "Gambling" discusses the history of gambling and how it became famous.... Also elucidation upon the perils of gambling and how people cannot resist gambling are made here.... Besides, it is important to discuss it because gambling is perilous in nature because it badly affects the health of the gambler and makes him prone to drugs and alcohol....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us