The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is a shocking tale of a town with a tradition that would be considered unorthodox in today’s society. Meanwhile, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce, like The Lottery is a thrilling story in which the reader is taken through different levels of consciousness in a man's execution. Both The Lottery and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge are stories that use situational irony to displace a theme or motif. The lottery begins on June 27 in the village square as the villagers are beginning to pour in for the annual town lottery Children play, collect stones and begin to make a pile in the town square. The men and women soon follow slowly.
As people start arriving at the square on June 27th, families starting migrating towards each other as one would expect. As the men initially went up to grab their slip of papers, the wives hoped their husbands would not have the one with the black dot in the middle. These beginning instances of the lottery show the families as united and caring for one another, but once one man has the card with the dot and that family is at risk, things change. This is what happened with the Hutchinson family. When Bill Hutchinson opened his paper and saw that it would be his family on the line, his wife shouted to the crowd that Mr. Summers “didn’t give [Mr. Hutchinson] time enough to take any paper he wanted” (Jackson) and how it was not fair.
Jackson states, “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones; Bobby and Harry Jones and Dickie Delacroix eventually made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square and guarded it against the raids of the other boys (564).” This seems like innocent play until the stones’ true purpose becomes unveiled at the end of the story. Jackson creates suspense through the children and the rock piling. Tessie Hutchinson’s late arrival at the lottery seemed almost normal because people do get caught up in a chore and run late. The late arrival set her apart from the crowd. Mr. Summers, the man drawing the “winning” ticket from the box, noticed Tessie arriving late and states “Thought we were going to have to get on without you (567),” which is predictive about Tessie’s fate.
Social Justice 12: Genocide Table: The Holocaust: The holocaust was an extremely horrifying event in world history. Countless innocent citizens were killed and an entire race was influenced forever due to the antisemitism of the German nazis and government during world war two. The holocaust was a result of the “need” to rid Germany of the jews. As part of the final solution, almost two out of every three jews were killed . The country was not portraying a strong economy as they had before and were in a type of distress that was causing unrest in the Nation.
Even babies were killed and sometimes thrown into the air and used for target practice. One reason the Holocaust is genocide is because of the amount of people ... ... middle of paper ... ...azis deny having done such things. The things that happened in the Holocaust (many people dying, the lives of those who survived, and the people losing everything) in my opinion are considered genocide. The Holocaust was a crime to humanity. Many people suffered and some had no regret or hate for the Nazis and what they had done.
Adolf Hitler was one of the cruelest rulers this world has ever known. During his reign Hitler caused enormous suffering for the Jews throughout Germany. Many Jewish families were torn apart by the cruelty of the Nazi party. This is one of the most tragic events in the world's history, is known as the Holocaust. Hitler was a very troubled man because he grew upon the hatred of Jews, he also ‘brainwashed’ many people into believing his idea’s, took away all of Jews rights and citizenship, formed the Nazi Parties , and even killed non-Jews.
Ultimately, Hitler was successful with the genocide of the harmless Jewish people in Germany, the council in Salem wasn’t as successful, the council tortured and killed many innocent people. The Jewish people were targeted, hunted, tortured, and killed, just for being Jewish, Hitler came to office on January 20, 1933; he believed that the German race had superiority over the Jews in Germany. The Jewish peoples’ lives were destroyed; they were treated inhumanly for the next 12 years, “Between 1933 and 1945, more than 11 million men, women, and children were murdered in the Holocaust. Approximately six million of these were Jews” (Levy). Hitler blamed a lot of the problems on the Jewish people, being a great orator Hitler got the support from Germany, killing off millions of Jews and other people, the German people thought it was the right thing to do.
The black box was used to put all the little pieces of paper that were going to be drawn out. This black box was put in the middle of the circle made by all the villagers. The next important symbolic symbol in Jackson’s story was the stones. “Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones” (Jackson). The stones sy... ... middle of paper ... ...aves are used when a person passes away.
Jackson showed the regularity of the stoning, “... eventually made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square and guarded it against the raids of the other boys” (Jackson). The boys treated as if it was a game; the boys felt the need to gua... ... middle of paper ... ...he villagers would never forget the stoning. Throughout the story, Jackson shows, with the use of symbolism and foreshadowing, that blindly following a tradition can have horrific consequences. All the objects connect with the ending. Since the villagers unquestionably accepted the tradition, they have allowed murder to become embedded in their town.
Jackson starts the story off by describing what groups are assembling in the square and their actions. Young boys collecting pebbles with pockets full of stones and older women gossiping and laughing together nervously, foreshadowing the twisted ending to this chilling short story. The process needed to conduct the lottery is mentioned, revealing that lists had to be made “...- of heads of families, heads of households in each family, members of each household in each family.” (239) These lists are all the work of the official of the lottery, Mr. Summers. Once all the townspeople have joined at the square it is time to start the lottery. The head of each household, generally male, walks up to Mr. Summers to select a paper from th... ... middle of paper ... ...ruesome and strictly followed the tradition is.