Compare/Contrast essay
Both “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, and “First They Came,” by Martin Niemoller have a general theme that explains why blindly following tradition is not safe and destructive to society. “The Lottery” is a fictional short story that takes place in a small town of 300 people. The story is about an annual ‘lottery’ that the community participates in. Everyone in town tries there chance of winning. The winner is chosen by the head of their house selecting a paper from a black box, and one slip has a black dot on it, the winning paper. However, the prize of the lottery is not very appealing. Whomever receives the black dotted paper is then surrounded by all of their neighbors, friends, and family members, and stoned to …show more content…
The people in the story have this lottery every year simply because they want to follow tradition, even if it means killing their loved ones. The poem “First They Came” is based on the holocaust and speaking out for others, against what is wrong. The poem describes how the Nazis went after certain groups of people, because they wanted to get rid of anyone who didn’t conform to the Nazi life. Although Niemoller opposed the Nazis, when they came for those targeted, He did not speak up for them. At the end of the poem Niemoller states “Then they came for me- and there was no one left to speak for me” Niemollers’ decision to let the people targeted get captured ended up leaving him alone when the Nazis came for him. These stories both show the consequences of doing whatever everyone else was doing, and not standing up for what is right. The stories are also prime examples of why it is important to be independent and to resist peer pressure. The Lottery differs from First They Came in the way they demonstrate their theme. The Lottery shows why you shouldn’t blindly follow tradition because the people in the story had no reason to follow this tradition. Whereas First They Came has a strong focus on how it is morally wrong to take orders from someone because they
Both “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, and “First They Came,” by Martin Niemoller have a general theme that explains why blindly following tradition is not safe and destructive to society. “The Lottery” is a fictional short story that takes place in a small town of 300 people. The story is about an annual ‘lottery’ that the community participates in. Everyone in town tries there chance of winning. The winner is chosen by the head of their house selecting a paper from a black box, and one slip has a black dot on it, the winning paper. However, the prize of the lottery is not very appealing. Whomever receives the black dotted paper is then surrounded by all of their neighbors, friends, and family members, and stoned to …show more content…
The people in the story have this lottery every year simply because they want to follow tradition, even if it means killing their loved ones. The poem “First They Came” is based on the holocaust and speaking out for others, against what is wrong. The poem describes how the Nazis went after certain groups of people, because they wanted to get rid of anyone who didn’t conform to the Nazi life. Although Niemoller opposed the Nazis, when they came for those targeted, He did not speak up for them. At the end of the poem Niemoller states “Then they came for me- and there was no one left to speak for me” Niemollers’ decision to let the people targeted get captured ended up leaving him alone when the Nazis came for him. These stories both show the consequences of doing whatever everyone else was doing, and not standing up for what is right. The stories are also prime examples of why it is important to be independent and to resist peer pressure. The Lottery differs from First They Came in the way they demonstrate their theme. The Lottery shows why you shouldn’t blindly follow tradition because the people in the story had no reason to follow this tradition. Whereas First They Came has a strong focus on how it is morally wrong to take orders from someone because they