In Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" and Suzanne Collins' novel The Hunger Games, both authors agree, by the use of divergent approaches, that conformity can lead to decisions one disapproves of which often lead to dangerous situations. In both "The Lottery" and The Hunger Games, the authors portray the dangers of blind allegiances on society and describe the ways conformity could end up harming many individuals. Jackson depicts savagery by the performance of a murderous yearly event which results in the stoning of a randomly-picked member of the village. The cruelty of the stoning tradition illustrates how the villagers have gotten so used to the idea of obeying the tradition that they have forgotten to follow their own morals: "Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box” (par. 265). This reveals how they are strongly holding on to old traditions, because they are fearful to alter even this unnecessary aspect of the lottery. The stoning of Mrs. Hutchinson is a main result of the pointless and tragic tradition held in this small town. No where in the story is a purpose to this tradition explained. …show more content…
70). Old Man Warner implies that since things have changed, the society would fear chaos without the old rules and traditions. It proves to us the fear of change that is shown by the characters. Also, Jackson emphasizes that even though the villagers may blame murderous acts on rituals and history, the real truth is that the traditional aspects of the stoning event have been discarded: "Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones" (par. 77). This evidence basically clarifies the true essence of this horrific tradition: murder. The ritual, including very few objects representing tradition, have led to this vital occasion of killing. The villagers are all too anxious to clasp on to the little amount of remainders, hastily picking up each stone and carrying on the “tradition” as another gloomy year goes by. In The Hunger Games, the people try to convince themselves that this tradition will help them forget about the dark ages: "Taking kids from our districts, forcing them to kill one another while we watch - this is the Capitol way of reminding us how totally we are at their mercy"(par. 12). Everyone conforms to mutely obey the commands directed towards them from the capitol. The townspeople are frightened to