Danger Pus Game Vz. the Lottery

477 Words2 Pages
“The Most Dangerous Game,” by Richard Connell, and “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson both use suspense and shock value to portray their horrid story lines. These short stories are about individuals who have stopped following societies “rules.” They began to degrade human life like it has no such meaning and carry out things that would be looked down upon in the real world. While both General Zaroff and the Village take the lives of innocent people, General Zaroff does it for his own enjoyment and pleasure. The Village, in “The Lottery,” are forced to do this because of their traditions for heavy crops. Due to General Zaroff’s savage doings for satisfaction, he seems to have lost his humanity and de-valued human life far more than the Villagers and their customs did.

Both characters in these two short stories felt that what they were doing was the right thing. In “The Lottery,” they mention “that over in the north village they're talking of giving up the lottery.”(Jackson, paragraph 32). Old Man Warner calls the north village a “pack of fools” stating that, that is not the way to go. He believes they must carry on this tradition and he never has come to realized how awful it is. Old Man Warner did not show value of human life by putting crops over innocent peoples lives. In “The Lottery,” all of the towns people know each other very well due to their community of only 300. They all respect each other and feel bad for General Zaroff also takes pride in what he does, more than any other characters. He finds no harm in the actions he's choosing to make. Zaroff and his meticulous personality thought that there was the hunter and the hunted. He was born the hunter, the strong one as he says, so he is obligated to play his role. He says that "Life is for the strong, to be lived by the strong, and, if needs be,taken by the strong. The weak of the world were put here
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