The Lottery and The Storm

     In "The Lottery" a raffle is held every year and the winner is stoned to death. I hadno idea what would happen until the end. I just new that it was going to be bad. It was very surprising they stoned one of their own to death and then went to eat dinner shortly there after. "The Storm" had it's own list of betrayels. In "The Storm" Calixta give in to lust and has an affair with an ex-suitor. Both stories were stories of deep rooted hurt. In both stories the accosters were people that they new and trusted. No one would expect their own child to participate in stoning them to death. No one expects for their spouse to cheat on them either. Both tragedies were deeply hurtful on a personal level and both tragedies have trusted family members that are personally involve as a source of pain.
     There are several differences in the stories. "The Lottery" is a physical attack that the victim's own family actively participated in her cause of death. There are arguments during the story about the validity of the lottery and the desire to stop it. The action that leads to the victims death is a planned event that is basedon chance. Everyone there new that someone was going to be killed and they new that they were going to be the killers if ther were not the one drawn to be killed. In "The Storm" the alduter's husband has no idea that she cheated on him and more than likley never will. The affair was not planned. The affair happened during a chance encounter at the woman's house under circumstances that will most likley never happen again. In "The Lottery" the participants know that it will happen again and that they may be the next to be stoned to death just because they got unlucky.
     These two stories describe some very basic things in human nature. We at some point or another give into desires that hurt the people around us. These stories reflect political and personal struggles of the their times. They show that people will make choices despite negative consequences and that we have a tendency to lean our choices toward our own personal survival.