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The Lottery Literary Analysis

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“We, as human beings, must be willing to accept people who are different from ourselves” --Barbara Jordan.
Each of us have a unique trait that differentiates us from another. However, the reactions to these differences differ from individual to individual. For instance, some might dislike the difference and go about eliminating it, while others accept it and move on, even when they do not agree with the concept.

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson

In “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, this concept is portrayed in the tradition of stoning a sacrifice to death. This tradition began because, the townspeople believed that sacrificing someone would bring a better harvest come autumn. For instance, this is enforced when Old Man Warner …show more content…
In this story, 99% of the people, especially the children, do not recollect the features of the sun, due to the constant rain. This is reinforced through the beliefs the children on Venus retain about the sun. Though the children of Venus have seen the sun before (for about an hour every seven years). With no evidence contradicting their beliefs, they believed this belief to be correct, until Margot, a denizen who came from planet Earth to Venus, and who had experienced and seen the sun ever since her birth. Margot with her ardent need to see and feel the sun alienated her from her classmates. Due to this, anytime she mentions something about the sun, the Venusians reply with. “You’re lying, you don’t remember” (pg. 2). Furthermore, if she continues, “they [would surge] about her, caught her up and bore her,...into a...closet, where they [would slam and lock] the door” (pg. 3) to shut her up. However, in the hour on a day when the sun appeared and it was time to release Margot, “Their faces [would be] solemn and pale. They [would look] at their hands and feet, their faces down” (pg. 4). In other words, when the children’s beliefs were proven to be wrong, they filled with guilt in their harsh treatment of the girl who only wanted to see the sun

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