Jackson and Lawrence
The Theme of Sacrifice in Jackson's "Lottery" and Lawrence's "Winner"
The theme of "sacrifice" is integral to the author's purpose in both "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson and "The Rocking-Horse Winner" by DH Lawrence. While the two authors use the idea of sacrifice in very different ways, the importance of sacrifice is clearly delineated. However, Jackson and Lawrence approach the theme from separate angles and with two very unique purposes in mind. This paper will examine the theme of "sacrifice" in each short story and show how it is used to convey the author's underlying message of the importance and value of Christian sacrifice.
In Jackson's "Lottery," sacrifice is arbitrary and random. Each year, an individual from the town is selected by lottery to be stoned. There is no sense, no reason given for the tradition -- other than that it is a tradition and must therefore be followed. One has a sense the village operates according to a rather anti-Christian creed: instead of "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone," these villagers assert that all must throw stones regardless of guilt or innocence. Blood must be shed. Someone must be sacrificed.
In Lawrence's "Rocking-Horse Winner," the child Paul sacrifices himself in order to please his mother, who is consumed by a materialistic/selfish mentality. As he is able to predict the winner of horse races by riding his rocking-horse to an imaginary victory, he collects vast sums of money, which he gives to his mother in an attempt to fill the empty hole inside her. At first, the money seems to work -- but gradually it turns out that enough is never really enough. The problem is that each "race" takes a little from Paul's life -- until finally he gives himself so completely to one last...
Thematic Development in "Young Goodman Brown" and "The Most Dangerous Game" While Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" and Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game" both feature the same basic theme of good vs. evil, the additional themes that the author utilize in telling their stories serves to differentiate them in a significant way, so that Hawthorne's story suggests that evil can corrupt even a successful protagonist while Connell suggests that his protagonist
Jackson was born in San Francisco, to father Leslie Jackson, an English immigrant and Geraldine Bugbee Jackson, who was related to the famous California architects, an association some give credit for driving her sense of place and detail for architecture in her stories. She spent most of her years in Vermont and is associated as a New England writer. The last work Jackson published, like the Lottery was one
setting of a story can reveal important things about the narrative's larger meaning, because the setting implies certain things about the characters, context, and themes that would otherwise remain implicit or undiscussed. In their short stories "The Lottery" and "The Rocking-Horse Winner," Shirley Jackson and DH Lawrence use particular settings in order to comment on the political and socio-economic status of their characters without inserting any explicitly political or
Lottery vs. The Rocking-Horse Winner In what ways are the two shorts stories by Shirley Jackson and DH Lawrence comparable and dissimilar? In "The Lottery vs. The Rocking-Horse Winner" there will be analysis of the differences and similarities in setting from a fictional perspective across the two short stories. What are the settings in The Lottery and The Rocking-Horse Winner? Where do both stories take place? When do both stories take place? What comparisons and
Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" and DH Lawrence's "The Rocking-Horse Winner," the desire of human beings to gain control over their existence with the use of rituals and 'magic' is in evidence. Use of ritual and superstition in "The Lottery and "The Rocking Horse Winner" In one story, magic is real, in the other it is not II. "The Lottery" Plot of sacrifice Sacrifice highly ritualized Not performing the magic is seen as barbaric, ironically "The
Outline I. The dangers of conformity is the main theme of both D.H. Lawrence’s short story “The Rocking-Horse Winner” and Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery.” A. Although these stories were written in different times and places and describe different characters and events, they converge on the main theme of conformity to irrelevant or harmful social norms. B. Both Lawrence and Jackson use literary devices like symbolism, irony, and characterization to convey the theme of
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