The Lottery and The Storm, Essay Example

The essay I have selected to discuss for this assignment is “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. I felt this story was deeply compelling, especially after considering the context in which it was written. Since Shirley Jackson was deeply impacted by the Holocaust, it is clear that “the lottery” is symbolic of the chance that Jewish people impacted by the war had to live or die. Also, this activity parallels with anti-Semitism as a whole, because it appears that the lottery systems is a means by which individuals systematically exclude people. Although anti-Semitism is a more extreme form of exclusion than the one discussed in the story, it is clear that Jackson wanted to mirror the lack of comfort she felt while living in Bennington, Vermont.

“The Lottery” is particularly compelling because to get her point across, Jackson parallels her personal experiences with a fictional tale. In this way, the reader is drawn into her words because it is necessary to read critically to be able to determine how her personal experiences have impacted her life. It requires active reading, which allows the reader to be continuously engaged as the story continues. An additional reason that I enjoy this story is that it reminds me somewhat of the dystopian setting that is present in The Hunger Games. Since I enjoyed the book series, I noticed that there is a close parallel between this story and the selection process used by the government to select participants in their sadistic challenge. This ultimately makes me wonder whether the author of this trilogy had read this essay and became inspired by it.

My less favorite story of the two provided options was “The Storm” by Kate Chopin. While this story contains symbolism in a similar manner to “The Lottery”, it was difficult for me to connect with the story as deeply. From reading the author’s personal history and information regarding her style, it appears that the storm is supposed to symbolize Marxism or some other extreme government movement. However, although I’m told this, it’s difficult for me to make this connection with the story. In “The Lottery”, I was able to more clearly draw parallels between the story elements and feelings of anti-Semitism.

An additional issue that I faced while reading “The Storm” was that it was difficult for me to relate to the characters. I believe that I was supposed to connect with them and feel their fear in discomfort in the wake of the storm, and I did not sympathize with them at all. It is possible that this would not have occurred if the characters were better developed. While I don’t think the story was bad overall, I think that the structure of the story and the character development was not as well done as was the case in “The Lottery”.

This comparison allowed me to recognize that the topic of essays are very important to me. Ultimately, I am compelled if I am reading a topic that I’m interested about or if the author presents a topic that I am less interested about in a compelling way. I believe that there was a better way to present the topics that were discussed in “The Storm” and do not believe that Kate Chopin did this in an optimal way.