Comparison and Contrast of the Stories: The Lottery and The Destructors

The stories the Lottery by Shirley Jackson and The Destructors by Graham Greene both provide thematic issues that reflect things and events within contemporary society. In the Lottery, Jackson succeeds to apply various skills to generate crucial matters such as the dangers of unseeingly following traditions and the unpredictability of persecution, which represents some of the things that the contemporary society encounters. A closer look at some of these themes shows that these theme talks address similar issues that represent societal events. The themes of destruction of humanity and creation are explicitly depicted in the stories the lottery and the destructors, and mostly reflects

In comparison, both the lottery and the destructors generate the themes which are related to the destruction of humanity and nature. Regarding the dangers of following traditions in the lottery, it is evident that the village story culminates in a violent murder each year, thereby suggesting how danger it is to follow the tradition thoughtlessly. Before the audience knows the kind of lottery it is, the villagers and their preparations appear to be harmless (Jackson, 2008). Besides, the villagers do not have any information about the origin of this practice but try to preserve it. It, however, emerges to be a ritual murder that is endemic to small towns. Similar to this thematic issue, Greenes short story depicts the destruction of creation. Set in post-World War II England, Green offers the suggestions of creation possibilities in the face of destruction. It explores the bombing of London by the Germans and destruction of property and humanity (Greene, 1990). Conceivably, all boys in the story are the products of various kinds of thinking that replaced the old political and social frameworks after the World War II. In reality, the boys are observed to operate democratically and organize themselves to ensure that the labor is powerful and efficient. Towards the end of the story, the boys language mirrors the destruction of the definitions of the old class and the current political struggles. The use of these themes leaves the audience to imagine the manner in which destruction will impact the future of other characters. For example, the lottery leaves the audience to imagine the future of other villagers, who later realized about the dangers and origin of the lottery.

Contrary, both stories depict different thematic issues. Jackson portrays the theme of the randomness of persecution while Greens portrays the loss of innocence as another theme. Notably, individuals are persecuted randomly, and the victim occurs to the victim of no transgression rather than having dawn the wrong slip of paper from a box. The Tessies death murder is an example of the manner the societies can punish people without any proper reasons. Regarding loss of innocence, The Destructors primarily deals with the gang members gradual loss of innocence (Jackson, 2008). As a former leader of the group, Blackie is portrayed to lose his innocence the moment he begins to propose victimless shenanigans to his group. B y the end of the story, Jackson depicts Blackie was a supportive character but who accepts the plan to destroy Mr. Thomas house. The theme of loss of innocence is therefore provided efficiently regarding these occurrences.

References

Greene, G. (1990). The destructors. Minnesota, MN: Grantham.

Jackson, S. (2008). The lottery. Mankato, MN: Creative Education.