Similarities Between The Giver And The Lottery

Jakob Klein

Ms. Gazzara/Mrs. Ruggiero

LA, Pd 2

28 Feb 2023 The Giver and “The Lottery” have a lot of similarities. In the novel, The Giver by Lois Lowry there is a boy named Jonas and he becomes the receiver of memories. However, Jonas has sad memories and does not want to bear them, so he runs away with Gabe. In the short story, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, there is a village and the people do a lottery where if they get picked they get stoned. In The Giver and in “The Lottery” both main characters think the traditions in their communities are unfair, but the community keeps doing the traditions because they do not know the reasons behind it. Through this, the authors of both texts are showing that traditions are not good when one blindly follows them, so one should try and question them.

When Jonas was asking the Giver questions about being the Giver, Jonas asked him "Do you ever think about release?" (Lowry 139). This quote gives an example of Jonas questioning tradition. Jonas wants to know why the community still has releasing because he thinks it is not right, and he wants the community to stop doing it. Later in his conversation with the Giver, Jonas said “I'm sorry that I wasted so much time with my questions," (Lowry 146). This quote shows that Jonas has a lot of questions about the reasons for traditions. For example, he asks the Giver why he keeps memories away from the community. If Jonas blindly follows the traditions that are hurting the community, then it will not get any better. However, in the examples, Jonas tries to learn the meaning of the traditions, which later helps him try to save the