The short stories The Lottery by Shirley Jackson and The Rocking Horse – Winner by D.H. Lawrence have a dark side. Attempting to control the outcome in their lives the character’s irrational behavior demonstrate the loss of winning. In Jackson’s The Lottery, the reader is transported in time to a bright sunny early summer day; a sense of warmth and tightly knit community is developed. Certainly this warm summer day with rich green grass and blossoming trees is a setting of joy, playful children and happy townspeople who are gathering to “win” the lottery. Had Jackson included a dark cloudy and rainy day, with perhaps even a thunder storm, the change in setting would have foreshadowed losing and even death. The reader would anticipate a
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The lottery itself represents those things done mindlessly, doing for the sake of doing, or because it has always been done this way. The stones depict that no one is sinless and in this lottery everyone’s hands are dirty even the children. Mrs. Delacroix, whose name means of the cross, tossed the largest stone to “get it done quickly.” The box is black, dark and eerie; marred with years of use. The townspeople keep their distance from it to prevent their own marring. Jackson forces the reader to question the rituals that people follow without full understanding of its origin or outcome. The white pieces of paper represent freedom and escapism. The “winner” of the lottery draws the paper with the black spot of …show more content…
Lawrence the setting looks pleasant on the outside, but inside is gloomy from the onset depicting neglect, obsession, hard-heartedness, and an unloving family. The woman has many blessings however feels that she has no luck because she does not have enough money. She hasn’t money because the family is undoubtedly living beyond their means. The house became haunted and the son, Paul, seeks a way to provide money so his mother can also have luck. A slight shift in the setting would change the behavior of the characters and the expectations of the reader. A loving household would promote seeing a blessing everywhere one exists; the woman’s beauty, living in a large home, ability to buy extravagant gifts, and having money to hire a nurse and a gardener. The reader would anticipate a gracious attitude in receiving money from the unknown relative had the setting changed slightly. In contrast to Jackson’s The Lottery, the mood in Lawrence’s story is unloving, cold, unsuccessful, accusatory; filled with fault finding and blame. The characters are pretentious, feigning love and filled with greed which is opposite of the warm, summer day in The
The lottery itself represents those things done mindlessly, doing for the sake of doing, or because it has always been done this way. The stones depict that no one is sinless and in this lottery everyone’s hands are dirty even the children. Mrs. Delacroix, whose name means of the cross, tossed the largest stone to “get it done quickly.” The box is black, dark and eerie; marred with years of use. The townspeople keep their distance from it to prevent their own marring. Jackson forces the reader to question the rituals that people follow without full understanding of its origin or outcome. The white pieces of paper represent freedom and escapism. The “winner” of the lottery draws the paper with the black spot of …show more content…
Lawrence the setting looks pleasant on the outside, but inside is gloomy from the onset depicting neglect, obsession, hard-heartedness, and an unloving family. The woman has many blessings however feels that she has no luck because she does not have enough money. She hasn’t money because the family is undoubtedly living beyond their means. The house became haunted and the son, Paul, seeks a way to provide money so his mother can also have luck. A slight shift in the setting would change the behavior of the characters and the expectations of the reader. A loving household would promote seeing a blessing everywhere one exists; the woman’s beauty, living in a large home, ability to buy extravagant gifts, and having money to hire a nurse and a gardener. The reader would anticipate a gracious attitude in receiving money from the unknown relative had the setting changed slightly. In contrast to Jackson’s The Lottery, the mood in Lawrence’s story is unloving, cold, unsuccessful, accusatory; filled with fault finding and blame. The characters are pretentious, feigning love and filled with greed which is opposite of the warm, summer day in The