Sorry, Miss.Yu. I don’t know the theme of The Lottery. The reason is: I am not the author; I cannot know what he is really wanted to say to the earthling. To parse a narrative is a good way to understand the theme of a story, but it is just guess. The details of a narrative can show lots of useful information to the readers, but the mind of an author is still sealed. For example, if a people stand with his friend face to face. He is able to feel the mood of his friend from their conversation, but he is not able to find the real thinking of his friend. Thus, we cannot understand each other completely. I am confused about why we study narratives, more exactly is why I should study narratives. I thought about this question for a long time, and I get some answers. (Just for me). First, I must to finish my high school, and go to university, so I have to learn these things. Second, knowledge is power, to learn more is not bad for me, and I can learn so many form narratives. Third, some of these narratives are masterpieces, it can improve my sentiment. Base on these reasons, I have to study narratives, and think about those questions that are on the sheet.
I like the story, and the ending is my favorite part. It is so unexpected. The story tells us a horrible traditional game, but the really scared part is just in a flash. The author used a long part to prepare the unexpected ending, he did it, and it is enough shocked. My idea is: the most important point of the story is people, and is not the title “lottery”. The theme is people oriented, no matter the one is male or female. All the people in the world have power to live, and nobody can bereave this kind of power. To care about self is not selfish; it is instinctive appetency of live. In addition I have an idea of why the people are glad to take the cruel lottery. Maybe they like to see the miserable situation of a poor people, because they get fun from this, I think this is called Roman holiday. This is a dark side of human nature, and the author is attacking the dark side of human nature.
This is what I think about this story and it might be wrong. I don’t like to take apart a story and parse every sentence. Maybe this is not a good way to learn, but I prefer to sum up the main ideas after I read (I won’t do this on an exam, I don’t want to against with my marks). In the end, my opinion of The Lottery might be quite different from the author’s real thinking, but at least this is my real thinking.
I love it! Thank you for such an insightful post. The Lottery is not about the "game" at all...and you are correct to say that the story comments on the theme of the dark side of human nature. We call this "scape-goat" where everyone will gang up on one person (regardless of male or female) and exert all cruel emotions on that one person. This allows people to vent anger, frustration, or any unhappiness they are feeling. Once they can get rid of these negative emotions, they will be happier. =)
ReplyDeleteStudying narratives is important, not because we are trying to see what kinds of stories people can come up with, but what kinds of lessons the authors are trying to teach us. Narratives (or short stories) are a comment on teh way we live, but hidden in the form of a story. Also, it also reflects emotions, real life situations, and real life problems. The author uses short story to tell readers their thoughts and feelings in a creative and hopefully, more powerful, way. Life is complicated...therefore, we cannot just have a math or science textbook to tell us how humans think, feel, or act. Hope this makes a litle more sense.
Good thoughts~~
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