Suzanne
Collins’ The Hunger Games and Shirley
Jackson’s The Lottery both share a
lot of similarities. Some of which include the fact the main themes of both
stories is following a tradition that has immense consequences without
questioning it’s purpose to begin with. However, the main differences between
the stories are minute and have to do with the setting.
The obvious similarity between
both stories is that someone is chosen and then sacrificed. In The Hunger Games, a male and female
tribute from each district is chosen to go fight for their lives in an arena
while the nation of Panem is watching. This “tradition” was a punishment for
the districts for rebelling and causing a war with the Capitol 74 years ago in
the time period of the novel. As Katniss puts it, they “take kids from our
districts, forcing them to kill one another while we watch—this is the
Capitol’s way of reminding us how totally we are at their mercy” (Collins 18). This relates to Jackson’s The Lottery because as a tradition with
this village, people pick a slip and if the eldest member of their family gets
the dreaded black dot the community has to stone a member of that family. This
tradition, the reader can assume, had been going on since its colonization. As the narrator states, “although the
villagers had forgotten the ritual…they still remembered to use the stones
(Jackson 202).” The villagers had forgotten the whole reason why they’re
killing people and didn’t even question or think about discussing why… they
just did. That same notion relates to The
Hunger Games. Some of the citizens of Panem didn’t like that every year one
or more of their children may have to face the games, but none of them ever
protested it in a manor that received the Capitols attention. Gale and Katniss
considered running away, but Katniss decided not to (Collins 10). Tessie
Hutchinson in The Lottery, she also
didn’t approve of the tradition, but didn’t show protest until it was her
family that was chosen, and eventually herself being the one that was going to
be stoned. She screamed that, “it [wasn’t] fair, it [wasn’t] right,” but it was
too late (Jackson 202). Finally, they both share the violent element that
shocks readers of either story. In The
Hunger Games, Collins describes brutal, spine-cringing deaths of children
caused by other children. In The Lottery,
a whole community, including that chosen persons family, stones a person to
death. One may argue that both Collins and Jackson chose these themes to show
the readers all the violence that we as humans have caused other humans,
purposefully or not. Obviously, both stories were written decades apart but
they still hold the same point. In 1948 when The Lottery was written, World War 2 had just ended. The world had
been exposed to a type of violence that it had never seen before. In regards to
The Hunger Games, Collins has stated that she was inspired to write while
watching Iraq war coverage and a reality show (Sellers).
The differences between The Hunger Games and The Lottery are blatant. One of them is that they are based in different time periods. From the context of The Lottery, one can argue that it was based in early America because they call their town a “village, where there were only about three hundred people” (Jackson 194). In contrast, The Hunger Games is based in futuristic post-apocalyptic America. Also the main characters per se are very different. Katniss volunteered for the games to protect her sister Prim, but she also has a chance of coming home alive (Collins 22). Tessie Hutchinson, in the other hand, has no choice or chance to survive.
The differences between The Hunger Games and The Lottery are blatant. One of them is that they are based in different time periods. From the context of The Lottery, one can argue that it was based in early America because they call their town a “village, where there were only about three hundred people” (Jackson 194). In contrast, The Hunger Games is based in futuristic post-apocalyptic America. Also the main characters per se are very different. Katniss volunteered for the games to protect her sister Prim, but she also has a chance of coming home alive (Collins 22). Tessie Hutchinson, in the other hand, has no choice or chance to survive.
The Hunger Games and The Lottery have a lot in common when it
comes to the main themes throughout each story. Jackson and Collins both were
influenced by wartime violence in their respective time periods. However, the
differences are fairly obvious they don’t take away from the similarities.
Citations
Sellers,
John. "A Dark Horse Breaks Out." PublishersWeekly.com. N.p.,
09 June 2008. Web. 09 Sept. 2012.
<http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20080609/9915-a-dark-horse-breaks-out.html>.
{Word Count: 690}
Love the post, especially where you say, "Collins and Jackson chose these themes to show the readers all the violence that we as humans have caused other humans." I find interesting that both the people of the capital, in Hunger Games, and the people of the village, in The Lottery, both see the violence as okay. What does it say about these societies, that they demand violence and death in the name of tradition? Or is the point not the tradition, but the fear?
ReplyDeleteI share the same facination with the acceptance of violence you pointed out Erik. It definitely makes you think about what the real reason for the acceptance of violence, because out of fear comes respect I think, it could be a way of the Capital and the village leaders to keep society in order while still getting what they want which is entertainment, but thats just my view on it.
DeleteThose are interesting questions! In my opinion, it's the fear that's the point. In The Hunger Games, the reapings and the games themselves remind the citizens of Panem who really is control. That the Capitol and the President Snow have control. In The Lottery, it's a little different because as far as we know, this has been a "tradition" since the colonization, as I stated in the post. So, why do they stone people? What's the purpose of it all? One may say that they do it to show each member of the village that the citizens have control of the village and the people that reside in it.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about the motivation for having the lottery for the villagers and while rereading I found this part on page 199. Mr. Adams is gossiping about how the north village wants to give up the lottery and Old Man Warner replies with the saying "Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon" and suggests that going without it they'd be eating "chickweed and acorns." It reminds me of ancient agricultural society when people believed that ritual sacrifice (usually animals but sometimes people) was required to insure a good harvest, an immediate example that comes to mind is the Aztec of Mesoamerica. It may also be that the lottery is thought of as a sort of symbol structure as Warner also says ending it mean "living in caves" (still page 199)? I'm not sure but it's food for thought.
DeleteI think in your second paragraph you've provided a very good and quick summary of Collin's The Hunger Games for people who haven't read (like me) it that provides a better understanding for the more complex similarities between the two stories. The continuous theme that runs through both stories, long-standing traditions of violence for which there is little protest if any protest, and the wars that inspired them (WWII for The Lottery and the Iraqi War for The Hunger Games) are the most important connection they have. I think both authors wanted to place the reader in a voyeuristic position forcing us to see in our minds the graphic violence that takes place without any way to stop it. We find ourselves the victims of morbid curiosity as the crowd turns on Tessie, including her own friends and family. I think it goes back to what you said about violence “humans have cause other humans…” and maybe how desensitized we’ve become to it? We hear about it every day and see it on our screens, terrible things like shootings, police brutality, murder, we sigh to ourselves and say “oh that terrible” and than forget about it the next. The more removed from us it is the harder it is to care. Again it’s morbid curiosity (my mother calls it rubbernecking), we register that it’s terrible and should be stopped but it doesn’t immediately concern us so we do absolutely nothing. Maybe I’m derailing a bit here, but I’m just trying to put to words that I feel the similarities between Collin’s and Jackson’s stories are more than just people killing each other but also the consequences have violence having a prominent place in society. I would love to hear other’s thoughts, please.
ReplyDeleteI like that you made a connection between violence being shown in society and it being normalized. I think that it is definitely the case in The Lottery. The people seem to be okay with the tradition simply because it's always there. I wonder if Collin is trying to make the same point. I know the Capital sees it that way but what do you guys think of the other districts?
DeleteI didn't talk much about The Hunger games in my paragraph and I wish I had but I haven't read it or seen the film hehe. But yes, I definitely feel that Collin's was trying to achieve the same effect. By giving the reader these terribly violent scenes without any way of intervening and making us as guilty as the people of the Capitol. In fact I think Collin's plays it up a lot more, at least from what I can tell. I'd love to read thoughts from people who've actually read the books on this though.
DeleteI may be going way out on a limb here but do you guys kinda see some simularities between the village, hungergames and society sometimes nowadays. Like when Chantal said "The villagers had forgotten the whole reason why they’re killing people and didn’t even question or think about discussing why… they just did", this just kinda set something off in my mind about some aspects of society now, for example what is socially acceptable really? Why do some people open doors for others? If you asked me I would probly say I dont know I just do, just like the people in hunger games and the village, why do we keep putting people up to get killed, I dont know we just do, that how we have seen it to be so that how we should do it. Thats just something I picked up on, anyting you guys do but you really dont know why you do it?
DeleteChantel, first, you are such an effective writer. The similarities in plot concepts with contrast settings of time were right on. I don't know how everybody else feels, but I feel both stories left me not really empathizing like 'what if that were me' sort of. Both stories leave us not knowing whether these traditions / acts of violence left either society feeling an overwhelming sense of shame and outrage enough to cause change as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI like where you are going with this James. In response to your last comment about shame, I feel that in The Lottery the people have become accustomed to there ritual and have lost the shame and regret that takes place in the ritual. It has become an event in which they have grown accustomed to. The main difference between The Lottery and the Hunger games is that in The Lottery everyone participates and in the Hunger games, only the poor participate. This allows for a stronger bond between the society in The Lottery and not so much with the society in the hunger games.
DeleteChantel, I really like the two stories that you choose to talk about in the blog. They both are similar in a way, yet different in some aspects. I like the paragraph where you talk about how in both stories, people do not protest unless there are directly involved in the action that is taking place. From this paragraph we can conclude that no other member in that society has a problem as long as they are not chosen. Why is that? Do they not care about their friends and family? In the Hunger games, we see this concerned emotion when Katniss takes the place of her younger sister as tribute. However, in the Lottery there is no concern over anyone. The evidence is in the text, "The children had stones already, and someone gave little Davy Hutchinson a few peoples."(Jackson 202) Even family members are participating in the ritual. I feel they differ in more ways than just the setting though. Both stories have bloody rituals that started many years ago. However, as I mentioned before, The Hunger games demonstrates sort of a family feel throughout the entire ritual, which last more than just a few hours. The Lottery, on the other hand, gives us the sense that there is no family connection and everyone there just showed up because they are going through the motions. I think fear plays a role in both societies to a degree, but more importantly is the fact that only the poor participate in one story and everyone participates in another. This has an effect on the emotions that people have because in one story only certain people can be picked, yet in another story everyone can be picked.
ReplyDelete