Hunger Games versus The Lottery

918 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: +literary essay outline on the theme/conflict of "the lottery"

"The Lottery" (Jackson, pg 163-170) and "The Hunger Games" (Collins, 2008) are both popular pieces of seemingly like, popular literature. Rituals and rules come into play strongly in both stories. In comparing "The Lottery" (Jackson, pg 163-170) and "The Hunger Games" (Collins, 2008) I find that both stories focus strongly on their annual rituals of sacrifice with a scapegoat. "The Lottery" (Jackson, pg 163-170) and "The Hunger Games" (Collins, 2008) have a ceremony, a formal event that brings the town or district together while having no real significance. Both stories also include similar rules, such as the rule that all people living in the town or district must attend the day that the person is chosen.
A ritual is "always done in a particular situation and in the same way each time." (Merriam-Webster, definition 2). Each year in "The Hunger Games"(Collins, 2008) and "The Lottery"(Jackson, pg 163-170) have an annual ritual in which, through a random draw a person is chosen to be the sacrifice. Although both stories have a similar theme in which there is an annual ritual, both rituals are carried out in very different ways. Comparing how the sacrifice is chosen differs slightly from "The Hunger Games" (Collins, 2008) and "The Lottery" (Jackson, pg 163-170). In "The Hunger Games" (Collins, 2008) the sacrifice, which they call the tribute, is picked from a glass bowl that contains the names of every person between the ages of 12 and 18 that live in the district. An individuals name may also be added extra times in order to gain food for their family. Also with "The Hunger Games" (Collins, 2008) there are two people chosen, one male tribute and one female tribute, rather than just one. In "The Lottery" (Jackson, pg 163-170) the hu...

... middle of paper ...

...n, chosen at random, will be faced with death. The ceremony is a formal, social event that has no significant meaning in the future time. Rules are very important in in order for the rituals in both stories to be carried out correctly. Similarly, both stories are extremely strict in the rules that are put in place. Every person must attend and acknowledge their fate if they are picked. Both events have a purpose. The purpose being to show power and tradition.

Works Cited

Collins, Suzanne. "“The Rules of the Hunger Games"" Goodreads. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013.
Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic, 2008. Print.
Jackson, Shirley. "The Lottery" Intoduction to Literature. Boston. 2013. Pages 163-170. Print.
"Ritual." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.
"Scapegoat." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.

Show More
Related

  • Research Paper on Shirley Jackson's “The Lottery”

    1132 Words  | 3 Pages

    Shirley Jackson's “The Lottery” is a short story about the annual gathering of the villagers to conduct an ancient ritual. The ritual ends in the stoning of one of the residents of this small village. This murder functions under the guise of a sacrament that, at one time, served the purpose of ensuring a bountiful harvest. This original meaning, however, is lost over the years and generations of villagers. The loss of meaning has changed the nature and overall purpose of the lottery. This ritual is no longer a humble sacrifice that serves the purpose of securing the harvest but instead is a ceremony of violence and murder only existing for the pleasure found in this violence.

    Read More

  • Comparing 'Wicker Man And The Lottery'

    308 Words  | 1 Pages

    In The Wicker Man and “The Lottery”, they both had many similar elements as well as differences throughout their stories. In both the story and film, in the end there was a death by sacrifice. Both of these stories are centered on the ideals of a cult like society that believes in sacrifice for the benefit of crop fertility. Though they are both similar theme wise, there are some slight differences in each story. In the Lottery, the selection process was based by chance and luck. The person who is the sacrifice would be picked at random. One member from each family household had their name in the “Black Box” and one name would be picked and whoever it was suffered the consequences. In the Wicker man, they had an involuntary selection process.

    Read More

  • Outline For The Lottery

    339 Words  | 1 Pages

    Attention Getter: Shirley Jacksons, The Lottery, without a doubt expresses her thoughts regarding traditional rituals throughout her story. It opens the eyes of us readers to suitably organize and question some of the today's traditions as malicious and it allows foretelling the conclusion of these odd traditions. The Lottery is a short story that records the annual sacrifice ceremony of an unreal small town. It is a comprehensive story of the selection of the person to be sacrificed, a procedure known to the villagers as the lottery. This selection is enormously rich in symbolism.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Sacrifice In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

    250 Words  | 1 Pages

    Shirley Jacksons short story “The Lottery” is bout traditions and sacrifice. The people of their village followed the tradition even though they had to sacrifice greatly for them. In the story the village people all gathered for a lottery but if you got it someone in your family would die for the tradition but it blessed the crops. Traditions can be good or bad.

    Read More

  • Dramatic Irony In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

    466 Words  | 1 Pages

    When you think of a lottery, you usually think of tickets and winning big. However the short story, “The Lottery,” written by Shirley Jackson takes a spin on the traditional meaning. The story starts out describing the morning of June 27th; this town participates in an annual lottery to choose someone to sacrifice in order to have a successful harvesting season. Jackson uses dramatic irony and symbolism to emphasize the points of violence and cruelty humans can bestow upon each other.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between The Hunger Games And The Lottery

    828 Words  | 2 Pages

    In stories that both end with innocent people being brutally murdered for the sake of upholding a tradition, there are bound to be similarities. The Hunger Games, directed by Gary Ross, is the story of a girl who is chosen as a sacrifice in the annual Hunger Games, forced to fight and kill tributes from other districts to survive. The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson, is the story of a woman who is chosen as a sacrifice in the annual lottery, stoned to death by the people in her village. The Hunger Games and The Lottery have similar symbols, characters, and settings.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Tradition In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

    1117 Words  | 3 Pages

    In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, tradition is seen as very high and something to be respected not to be messed with. Although, the lottery has been removed from other towns, the village where the story is set in still continues to participate in the lottery. It is almost as if the other towns realized the lack of humanity in the tradition. However, the village still continues with the lottery even though the majority of the ritual has been lost or changed. The oldest man in the village complains about how the lottery is not what it used to be. There are hidden messages in “The Lottery” that reflects today’s society that the author wants to make apparent and change, such as, the danger of blindly following without any knowledge, the randomness

    Read More

  • Conformity And Conformity In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

    1104 Words  | 3 Pages

    Yearly rituals are accepted by most people and the reasons behind the celebrations are unknown to most people. Americans practice different annual traditions such as Fourth of July, Easter egg hunt, Halloween, Veterans Day and more. Likewise for Shirley Jackson, a wife, mother, and author of six novels, two memoirs, and a collection of short stories including “The Lottery.” Jackson’s short twisted story, “The Lottery,” portrays a ritual almost as old as the town itself, especially for the fact that there’s no remembrance from the villagers or the oldest man, Old Man Warner, the real reason for the ceremony. Jackson’s story describes a brutal custom in a small village that punishes the winner of the lottery; however, Jackson uses irony, characters and symbolism to support her story. Jackson’s purpose in The Lottery is to demonstrate that conformity can be helpful in some situations but damages those who choose not to conform.

    Read More

  • Symbolism in The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson

    800 Words  | 2 Pages

    Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a chilling tale of a harsh ritualistic gathering conducted by people of a small village. The word lottery would typically remind someone of a drawing to win a cash prize. A better comparison to the story would be the lottery used to select troops for the Vietnam War; a lottery of death. Another would be the human sacrifices the Aztecs willingly made long ago.

    Read More

  • Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

    1346 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... killing an individual is needed to ensure a prosperous crop is not only disheartening but also a scary idea. This is behavior that is thought to be barbaric and a thing of days long past. The Lottery is a very surprising story with many themes all of which are important. The ones previously addressed are the ones that occurred more than others and also seemed to bring more to the meaning and interpretation of the story.

    Read More

  • The Contrast of Two Great Short Stories: The Rocking Horse Winner and The Lottery

    878 Words  | 2 Pages

    “The Lottery” is a short story about an event that takes place every year in a small village of New England. When the author speaks of “the lottery” he is referencing the lottery of death; this is when the stoning of a village member must give up his or her life. The villagers gather at a designated area and perform a customary ritual which has been practiced for many years. The Lottery is a short story about a tradition that the villagers are fully loyal to and represents a behavior or idea that has been passed down from generation to generation, accepting and following a rule no matter how cruel or illogical it is. Friends and family become insignificant the moment it is time to stone the unlucky victim.

    Read More

  • Dehumanity In The Lottery, By Shirley Jackson

    1081 Words  | 3 Pages

    Set in 1948 and published in The New Yorker, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson describes a village ritual of sacrifice. Contrary to the positive feeling associated with the word “lottery,” the story strikes fear into the readers’ hearts as the winner is stoned to death. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” uses symbolism and genre conventions of a classic dystopian story to show the different ways in which human cruelty can occur.

    Read More

  • Allegories In The Lottery

    812 Words  | 2 Pages

    “The Lottery,” written by Shirley Jackson in 1948, is a provoking piece of literature about a town that continues a tradition of stoning, despite not know why the ritual started in the first place. As Jackson sets the scene, the villagers seem ordinary; but seeing that winning the lottery is fatal, the villagers are then viewed as murders by the reader. Disagreeing with the results of the lottery, Tessie Hutchinson is exposed to an external conflict between herself and the town. Annually on June 27th, the villagers gather to participate in the lottery. Every head of household, archetypally male, draws for the fate of their family, but Tessie protests as she receives her prize of a stoning after winning the lottery. Jackson uses different symbols – symbolic characters, symbolic acts, and allegories – to develop a central theme: the

    Read More

  • The Theme Of Change In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

    1492 Words  | 3 Pages

    Every year, the lottery is held, and every year a person is killed. Each villager neglects to acknowledge the unjustness of the lottery and continue to participate because of the tradition it represents in their society. The lottery was a cultural tradition passed down from the very first settlers of the village. It makes up a huge part of the village’s history and culture. The villagers pay recognition to their culture by continuing the tradition of the lottery even though the lottery is not morally right. On page 93 it states, “There was a proper swearing-in of Mr. Summers by the postmaster, as the official of the lottery; at one time, some people remembered, there had been a recital of some sort, performed by the official of the lottery, a perfunctory tuneless chant that had been rattled off duly each year… There had been, also, a ritual salute, which the official of the lottery had had to use in addressing each person who came to draw from the box…” This quote shows the tribal-like rituals and traditions associated with the lottery. Through the years, some of the rituals of the lottery were lost, but the main elements of the lottery remained the same. The idea behind the lottery was that the ancestors, of the villagers, believed that human sacrifice would bring in good harvest. This led to the development and continuation

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Lottery And The Hunger Games

    958 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the stories of “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins, both authors deliver the dangers of blindly following tradition that can lead to death, fear and no advancement in society. In “The Lottery” their tradition is to kill a person that is randomly chosen by using a lottery. To compare, in “The Hunger Games” children are also picked out of a lottery from each district and if they are chosen, they need to fight against each other to death. Both stories share a tradition of cruel and murderous behavior but they have a slight difference in tradition.

    Read More

More about Hunger Games versus The Lottery

Open Document