futuristic society

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Dystopian stories, although thrilling and intriguing, raise contemporary issues that can be applied to our modern day society. Dystopian short stories raise contemporary issues directly and indirectly through the various literary elements of the story. “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut both raise contemporary issues that help us evaluate our society and the different problems we encounter. Both of these authors do a great job of illustrating dehumanization and a false sense of equality through these issues as well.
In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, the plot and characters are the driving force behind these contemporary issues. This short story takes place in a small society of a couple hundred people. Everybody in the town gathers for a lottery, and it does not involve winning a prize. Winning the lottery is equivalent to getting stoned to death. The head member of each family draws a piece of paper. Whichever head member draws the piece of paper with a black dot on it must have each member of his family draw a piece from the black box. Whoever draws the piece of paper with the black dot is the winner of the lottery. In this lottery, Tessie Hutchinson is the victim of the lottery.
The “Lottery” raises various elements that show flaws in our modern day society. Before the Lottery took place, a conversation between Mr. Adams and Old Man Warner helps bring about a contemporary issue. Mr. Adams says, “They do say, that over in the north village they’re talking of giving up the lottery” (Jackson 250). Old Man Warner replies, “Pack of fools” and “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...

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...ost his life in this story for standing up for a change. In our society, a person may dress appropriately while his or her friends dress very inappropriately, resulting in this person losing friends and being made fun of. Vonnegut shows us that by following society and not standing out, we set ourselves up for destruction when we finally decide to make a change.
Overall, both of these dystopian short stoies provide more than enough contemporary issues that can be applied to our modern day society. The plots of both these stories lead to various contemporary issues. Not only do these short stories provide us with insight for our society; they help us see society from a more extreme, futuristic standpoint. Both of these stories are an encouragement to make positive changes in our society and do everything possible for the future of our society and our human nature.

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