Shirley Jackson's the Lottery and Term Paper

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Everyone knows what will happen to her and it seems all everyone can think is how they are glad that it did not happen to them - this year. Tessie has to speak up because she has nothing to lose. She exclaims that the lottery "isn't fair" (218), but no one will agree with her (out loud). Instead, the townspeople are encouraged to get the dirty deed over with so life can return to normal. "The Lottery" demonstrates how we can become fearful of change when we allow our lives to stay in the same rut for too long.

Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" illustrates what happens when we are open to change. Louise did not really know how unhappy she was until she saw the opportunity for change. However, once she accepted the change that life was presenting her, she felt alive. We read that her "pulse beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body" (Chopin 636) when she realized what the news of her husband's death meant. Louise felt that there were "no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and believe that have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature" (636).

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Louise was willing to give up the idea of love for the "possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being" (636). Louise is the perfect example of someone that turns a tragedy into a positive experience. She could not change what had happened to her and rather than be come weak and fearful, she decides to take charge of her life and do something different. In short, she was not afraid.

The Lottery" and "The Story of an Hour" illustrate the importance of change - whether we want it or not. Both stories reveal how change is necessary for life to continue to be constructive. Without change, life becomes static and we become boring creatures of habit. Tessie and Louise knew that change was good but it was another thing to try and convince others of this. We need change so we do not become robotic and, essentially, lifeless. It is better to accept change with a positive attitude and decide to make it work to your benefit than to live afraid and unchanged.

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