Essay Comparing The Lottery And The Most Dangerous Game

The gift of imagination allows readers to experience other worlds and unique situations through the channel that is fiction writing. In both “The Lottery” and “The Most Dangerous Game” the reader is taken to a world very different from modern day America. In their own way, both storylines are dark and the characters are faced with death. The reader gets to see how each of the main characters deal with their own extreme circumstance. Through their use of third person point of view and foreshadowing, Jackson and Connell reveal two settings where seemingly regular humans devalue human life. Though both Jackson and Connell use third person point of view in their stories, they accomplish very different goals. In “The Lottery”, the narrator is an outsider looking in. The reader does not know the thoughts or feelings of any of the characters. The most conveying, shocking part of the

Both stories have rules or traditions that are strictly followed by everyone involved, yet, the fact that someone is guaranteed death is not questioned. At the beginning of “The Most Dangerous Game”, Rainsford disagrees with Zaroff’s game, but quickly changes his stance. Connell’s story takes place on a secluded island that the antagonist, Zaroff, owns. At least in this instance, the incredibly inhumane activity is taking place away from normal civilization. It is easier for the reader to imagine this kind of lifestyle on a remote island. However, “The Lottery” takes place in an average small town of a few hundred people. This setting is much more horrifying for the reader because it resembles modern day American life much more. It is nauseating for the reader to imagine this kind of lottery happening in their own town. Because of how the stories are crafted, “The Most Dangerous Game” leaves the reader pondering this far away land whereas the cruelty of “The Lottery” leaves the reader