1. The Lottery takes place on June 27th in a small village of open farm land. It is told in third person. There isnt a whole lot of specific characterization, but it is easy to see by what is told about the characters that the men are the leaders of the village. Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves were in charge of the name callings. This 'sacrificial' event is part of their life, and just something that has to be done, because it has always been done in the village. The people don't treat it like a huge ordeal. Not until the end do you realize what the purpose of the whole event is for. By using third person, it is not very personal and no specific thoughts in their heads are revealed, so the reader is left to imagine how this must be for the families.
6. Both stories deal with the relationship between society and the individual. In The Lottery it is more of family and village tradition, so it has become normal for them to do this sacrificing. There are the few that put up some type of argument in the event, but they are over ruled by the people in power.
In Omelas, the people are exposed to the abused child who is responsible for the city's happiness and order. Many cry and are angry, but since they are taught and forced to understand that this child bring the town order, they rationalize it and decide the well being of the entire city is more important then this one childs. I think this story has more to do with morality and the ones who leave the city are the ones who do not want to support whats happening to the poor child who is tortured.
I agree with what you said when you said the lottery was just a part of everyone's life. It's really easy to tell this when one of the characters talked about how she was just doing the dishes before she came over. They don't make it into this huge death sentence but just like an event that the whole town attends.
ReplyDelete