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The Lottery vs. The Rocking-Horse Winner
Dashua Murphy
Liberty University Online

Fiction Essay

Thesis Statement: While “The Rocking-Horse Winner” and “The Lottery” differs on some levels, both stories carry the theme of death as a sacrifice for greater gain.
1) Need
a. “The Lottery”: the village needs to uphold a cruel tradition to ensure a bountiful harvest
b. “The Rocking-Horse Winner”: Paul needs to get “lucky” to satisfy the never ending needs of his mothers “unluckiness”
2) Unhealthy Support systems
a. In “The Lottery” many of the villagers unconsciously support the cruel tradition of stoning one of its members for a better harvest
b. In “The Rocking-Horse Winner” Bassett and Uncle Oscar unwittingly attribute to Paul’s failing of health and considerable need to stay “lucky”
3) Ritual practices
a. The lottery is conducted yearly to select the “winner” who will become the “sacrificial lamb” that will preserve the life of the village
b. Paul madly rides his rocking horse on a journey to where “luck” is until he receives an answer for who the winning horse will be in the next race
4) Untimely Death
a. Tessie is stoned to death after her husband selects the slip of paper that has the “black spot” and her family has to re-draw for the “winning” ticket
b. Paul dies as a result of pursuing an answer for his greatest and most rewarding Derby gamble
5) Real World * “Jackson” declared the purpose of “The Lottery” had been “to shock the stories readers with a graphic demonstration of the pointless violence and general inhumanity found in their own lives” (p.250) * “Lawrence” demonstrates the pursuit of gaining material pleasures and the sacrifices one will make to obtain them

In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and D. H. Lawrence’s “The Rocking-Horse Winner,” the reader is introduced to two characters who, while on

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