Similarities Between Shirley Jackson And Battle Royal

The Lottery (1948) written by Shirley Jackson and Battle Royal (1952) by Ralph Ellison are short stories that stress the issues of conformity and breaking tradition. Both stories were written during a time when individuality was not looked upon in a pleasant manor. Battle Royal and The Lottery both deal with the internal struggle of trying to accept societal norms when they do not match up with one’s beliefs. Difficult lessons were learned in these stories, for example in The Lottery a cruel tradition occurs once a year where an individual in the community gets stoned to death. No one speaks out about how inhumane this tradition is until they are the ones who are being targeting. In Battle Royal the narrator’s grandfather gives his family†¦show more content†¦She began gossiping with her friends as the event was beginning without a care in the world. Once her husband had picked the special card, Mrs. Hutchinson became very frantic, screaming that â€Å"it was n’t fair† and that they did not give her husband enough time to pick a card. Then, each member in her family had to pick a card. Each family member had a white card besides Mrs. Hutchinson whose card had a dot on it. Mrs. Hutchinson became even more frantic as fear over took her body. As she began to plea for her life, it was simply too late. Mrs. Hutchinson only spoke up because her and her family’s lives were being threatened. If Mrs. Hutchinson expressed her desire not to participate in this event earlier because the lottery is pointless murder, maybe others would have agreed and change could have happened. When the villagers circled around Mrs. Hutchinson all holding stones of various sizes, it finally became clear to her that her window of opportunity to speak up was over. Mrs. Hutchinson learned a very important lesson the last few seconds of her life; that it is easy to be a bystander and not speak up when it is not one being affected. Shirley Jackson herself is a prime example of the difficulties that come when being submissive at inappropriate times. Jackson’s mother was never very pleased with her and would often tell her that, â€Å"she would have preferred a prettier, more pliable one† (Heller, The Haunted Mind of Shirley Jackson). Jackson oftenShow MoreRelatedLogical Reasoning189930 Words   |  760 PagesRichard Gould, Kenneth King, Marjorie Lee, Elizabeth Perry, Heidi Wackerli, Perry Weddle, Tiffany Whetstone, and the following reviewers: David Adams, California State Polytechnic University; Stanley Baronett, Jr., University of Nevada-Las Vegas; Shirley J. Bell, University of Arkansas at Monticello; Phyllis Berger, Diablo Valley College; Kevin Galvin, East Los Angeles College; Jacquelyn Ann Kegley, California State University-Bakersfield; Darryl Mehring, University of Colorado at Denver; Dean