hh_clubs | RESTRICTED SECTION: SHORT STORY DISCUSSION

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(hey mods, would you mind putting a link up to the application on the userinfo page?)

"THE LOTTERY" SHORT STORY DISCUSSION
(the book discussion is above this discussion)

It's time for the two readings discussions!

Rules, Regulations, and Points:

This discussion will run much like the debates held in the main community. To earn points, be sure to heed the following:
-The comment is at least five sentences long.
-The comment stays on topic. No personal attacks or arguments will be tolerated.
-The comment is signed. If you accidentally forget to sign it, please delete the comment and repost it with your name and house in it. No name/house= no points.
-Remember to comment with your subject in the subject line. Like "Christine/Phantom," for example. That way, people can more readly track discussions.

Points will be awarded as follows:
-10 points for your first comment (this will only be awarded once. Not twice, once for each discussion)
-50 points to the top commenter, one in the novel and and one in the short story discussion.
-40 points for second, one for novel and one for short story discussion
-30 points for third, one for novel and one for short story discussion.

Discussions will end Friday, March 24th. This will give you all two full weeks for discussion. Don't hesitate to ask me any questions!

Anna M // Restricted Section Mod

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well I never quite got around to finishing the Phantom of the Opera although I fully intend to someday when I have no school work to do.

I still think that the Lottery is an odd story. No matter how many times I read it or try to look at it from different angles, it just sounds as if it's a stupid ritual to do. This lottery was started when the population was growing so why end a life when you need to have as many lives to reproduce children? Even when the story takes place, there is never a justification for ending a person's life just because they were unlucky.

I also don't understand why the people of the town couldn't understand why other towns have stopped following such a tradition. It's not a good tradition to follow and these people just don't seem to have grasped that fact. Sure traditions are great and all that, but times do change and new traditions are always coming up or old ones are being altered in some way.

What would happen if a child's name was pulled? How could one kill an innocent child? It's easier to understand if the person was old and had lived his life but for a young child who hasn't had much of a chance to live his life, that would be just too cruel.

Also, it seems as if this whole lottery harks back to the old days when it was certain as if people would live. After all, in the old days before modern medicine, people would die and it was all left up to chance when the younger people died. But I'm just blathering here and all that.

Lee/Ravenclaw

That's the point of it though. The point was that it was a "stupid tradiition" which is why it is discussed in the story that another town was thinking of stopping it, "They do say...that over in north village that they're talking about giving up the lottery." "Pack of crazy fools...Listening to the young folks, nothing's good enough for them. Next thing you know they'll be wanting to go back to living in the caves, nobody work any more, live that way for awhile." This one town was holding so tight on to the tradition that it seems anything that goes against is so perposterous that they compare it to going back in time.

We also find out that they're so suppersitious that they use the same box that had been used for years and years and years, and if it broke, they make one exactly like it. We find out that the lottery is to find out whom to sacrefice so that they'll have good crops, "Used to be a saying, 'Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon,'". They see the lottery as a way to keep their people fed and would even sacrifice a child if need be. It was one for the greater good. And if they don't do the lottery the town would suffer, "First thing you know, we'd all be eating stewed chickenweed and acorns. There's always been a lottery," so as you see this town is stuck with the tradition because of their supersitious ways. Like I said, they thought it was for the greater good of the village that someone died.

Jen//Hufflepuff

RESTRICTED SECTION: SHORT STORY DISCUSSION

The Lottery

Re: The Lottery