A Tale Of Two Cities And The Lottery Comparison

A Tale Of Two Cities And The Lottery Comparison

ATOTC and “The Lottery” Essay

Many societies today strive to have a government that functions under the principle of equality. The definition of equality is the state of being the same in all respects and unvarying. In the world, many people or groups attempt to maintain this when judging, and the same happens in literature. In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the community holds an annual lottery and makes sure that it is equivalent in all respects. In A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, the revolutionaries are fighting to make themselves on par with the aristocrats and overthrow the aristocratic regime.   In A Tale of Two Cities and “The Lottery,” the communities consider that equality must be administered at all costs, or else nothing will function correctly, as seen in many examples.
In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the town goes through much effort to keep their lottery equal. All of the families have the man of the household draw, or the next eligible person if the man is injured. The family that is chosen then has each of the family members draw and whoever draws the black dot “wins,” and is stoned to death. No one has a higher chance than anyone else to draw the black dot, meaning that this lottery is conducted in a fair and equal manner. But, the question arises about whether something can be equal, but have a negative outcome. Old Man Warner says to the people that the neighboring towns that have gotten rid of the lottery are packs of young fools, and that tradition shouldn’t be changed. Those towns have realized that, while the lottery might be equal, with everyone having the same chance of death, equality does not mean fairness. Fairness is being just and not doing something without reason. The reason that the annual lottery is being conducted goes back to an old saying that Warner told the citizens of the town, “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.” This superstition, which is not true, is the reason that an inhabitant of the town is...