Comparing The Lottery 'And First They Came'

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If your friends jumped off a bridge would you? In “The Lottery” the townspeople participate in a lottery and if they get the black dot and win the lottery they get stoned by the townspeople. In “First They Came” The Nazi’s are capturing different social classes. The Author tries not to call attention to himself by speaking up for the social classes. As you can see, both stories have the theme of following the crowd. You shouldn’t do what everyone else is doing. Both of these stories have a common theme of don’t follow the crowd. In “The Lottery” the inhabitants of the town host a lottery once a year. They do this simply because their ancestors did it. The villagers don’t even remember most of the tradition. For example, the text says, “so much of the ritual had been forgotten or discarded” and, “some people remembered, there had been a recital of some sort, performed by the official of the lottery.” It also claims that “There had been, also, a ritual salute.” So they just host the lottery off ancient beliefs of their ancestors. …show more content…

The Author does not speak out for everybody that is getting taken, persecuted, and imprisoned because he is not being hunted down, so he just lays low and doesn’t call attention to his self by speaking up for the social classes that are being hunted down. The text says, “They came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out.” It also says, “Then they came foe the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out.” Then the Nazi’s come for him and no one is left to speak up for him because he did not speak up for them. At the end of the story it claims, “Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me.” This differs from “The Lottery” because in “First They Came” the author is not trying to fit in, like in “The Lottery”, he is trying to not get persecuted by speaking up for the other people that