The Lottery By Shirley Jackson And The Crysanthemu Essay

The two short stories I chose to write my analysis on, The Lottery by Shirley Jackson and   The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck are very similar in theme and structure. I found them both in intriguing and extremely enthralling in the way the author decided to narrate them and continue to express the character’s thoughts and emotions through dramatic and vivid words. I would like to begin by giving a synopsis of each of the stories and expressing my commentary on how each are similar in theme and structure. When someone thinks about what a “lottery” is, they normally think of something that has to do with a nice give-away or a cash prize of some sort, but in this case, Shirley Jackson decides to write about a small town that has a haunting tradition of having all the villagers (even children) pick a piece of paper from a box, and if it just so happens that a person picks the wrong slip of paper with the black dot on it, then that person will be brutally and unforgivably stoned to death. This tradition is unbearably horrific. The villagers’ blind acceptance of the “lottery” has allowed sacramental murder to become part of their town’s fabric. As they have demonstrated, they feel powerless to change, everyone has accepted the fact that this is just how the town is supposed to be run, although there is no one forcing them to keep things the same. Villagers persecute individuals at random, and the victim is guilty of no transgression other than having drawn the wrong slip of paper from a box. The elaborate ritual of the lottery is designed so that all villagers have the same chance of becoming the victim. The story ends with a popular housewife of the town being unjustifiably stoned to her death. As she dies, she cries for help and it is as if she is no longer a person. It no longer matters who she was.
The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck is a short story of an exciting, intellectual, and adoring lady who lives an unsettled, under stimulated life. She’s...