Things Aren't Always As They Seem

Authors Note: The purpose of this piece is to explain a theme of the story The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson.

What would you do if you lived in a town where the lottery was not about money? The short story “The Lottery” is a story about how things are not always what they seem to be. For example, when thinking of a lottery, death does not come to mind but a grand prize like a new car or lots of money. In this short story the author, Shirley Jackson, uses irony to support the theme of things not always turning out to be what they first seem to be.

When reading the title, “The lottery” the thought of lots of money or a really grand prize comes to mind. After reading the story, the lottery really turns out to be a game of death and not luxury. This irony supports the theme since the lottery really did not turn out to be so grand as the readers expected it to be but one of the worst nightmares of the village residents.

All of the villagers are really scared of because they no it is not for money,it is for their lives.Another bit of irony in the story is that no resident of the little village wants to win the lottery. It could be inferred that no villager wants to win the lottery when said “‘you didn’t give him time enough to take any paper that he wanted. I saw you. It isn’t fair’” In these sentences, Tessie is saying that it wasn’t fair that they got the paper with the black spot on it indicating that they are the winners of the lottery. This is ironic that the townspeople don’t want to win a game that we would think of as grand prizes. This helps to support the theme since winning the lottery usually means winning grand prizes, but in this lottery, winning the lottery means losing your life.

Seeing that it means losing your life none of them want to win. In this short story, The Lottery, we learn that things are not always what they seem to be. For example when a lottery comes to mind, a grand prize is what is usually in store for the winner, but in this lottery, the winner wins the privilege to lose his or her life. Shirley Jackson uses irony to support the theme of things not always turning out to be what they first seem to be.

Katniss' Goal

Authors note: This is a piece on the book Catching Fire about how Katniss could have changed her mind about saving Peeta but she didn't.

In the book Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, Katniss’s (the main character) life has been changed because of the games, and all she wants is her old one back. People of District 12 look at her differently now, and she's always on the radar in the Capitol. Barely into the first chapter of the book, she says "I mourn my old life here. We barely scraped by, but I knew where I fit in, I knew what my place was in the tightly interwoven fabric that was our life. I wish I could go back to it because, in retrospect, it seems so secure compared with now, when I am so rich and so famous and so hated by the authorities in the Capitol." (10) She wants Peeta to survive in the beginning but there are many things that possibly change her mind in the games.

She wants Peeta to survive but now that she's won the Hunger Games, Katniss' family gets to live in a nice house and will never go hungry. Her role as the family's breadwinner is no longer needed. The others in her district also get more food and will be better off for at least a year, thanks to Katniss and Peeta's win in the arena. Because of this she might not want to give up her life; if Katniss dies her family no longer gets the supplies and no longer lives where they do now.

While Katniss knows what happened in the arena, she still doesn't know how she feels about it. At the end of the first Games, she and Peeta survived, thanks to her clever berry trick. Katniss decides that her action at that moment reveals who she is and how she should fit into this new, post-Games world "The berries. I realize the answer to who I am lies in that handful of poisonous fruit. If I held them out to save Peeta because I knew I would be shunned if I came back without him, then I am despicable. If I held them out because I loved him, I am still self-centered, although forgivable. But if I held them out to defy the Capitol, I am someone of worth. The trouble is, I don't know exactly what was going on inside me at that moment."(87)

Most of the time, Katniss is full of self-loathing, especially when she must decide whether to run away or stick it out in District 12 and try to fight the Capitol "I'm selfish. I'm a coward. I'm the kind of girl who, when she might actually be of use, would run to stay alive and leave those who couldn't follow to suffer and die. No wonder I won the Games. No decent person ever does." (82-83)

Is Katniss being too hard on herself? Aren't most people "selfish" and "cowardly" from time to time? Katniss can also be brave and selfless. Soon after hearing about the Quarter Quell, she determines to save Peeta's life, though it will cost her own. She doesn't give in to her gut feelings to look out for herself alone; she stays at his side and fights.

Last Flower In The Flower Bed

All the others are dead…. I'm lonely. I stand here swaying back and forth holding on to the hope that I can survive. Just as I'm giving up hope I see something in the distance. A man, walking towards me with a bucket of water and more plants. I am saved I think to myself. As he arrives next to the flower bed he crouches and starts digging up the other flowers. At last after he has dug up the other flowers he comes to me, as I think he is reaching for the water to save me he pulls a shovel out from his back pocket. I thought I was saved, but truthfully I knew I had to go sometime soon so I might as well make it now.  

Should We Clone?

“Cloning is the process of making an exact copy of someone or something” (WHAT IS CLONING?). Since the February 1997 announcement of the birth of Dolly, a sheep cloned by Ian Wilmut, cloning research has increased greatly (science museum). Cloning humans has recently become much more of a possibility than it was years ago (Batra). Scientists are on the edge of a huge breakthrough in the field of human cloning, and society must ask itself whether or not it should be allowed. Many arguments can be made for and against human cloning, but since it is inhumane and would take away individuality and social values. The practice of cloning humans is one that government should ban and we should not accept.

Proponents of human cloning may argue that it is just a logical and inevitable advance in science research and technology. It is, however, too risky for human subjects. "At the present time, the general consensus of the public is against human cloning" (science museum). Within a few years' time, however, the medical possibilities of human cloning may be attractive enough to change public opinion. Research on human cloning would involve huge risks for the initial clones, because any experiments in human cloning would eventually have to be carried out on human beings.

Human cloning is unethical because the risks of this practice greatly outweigh the benefits. The technique that produced Dolly the sheep was successful in only 1 of 277 attempts (science museum). If this technique were attempted in humans, it would risk miscarriages in the mother and severe developmental problems in the child. Standard medical practice would never allow the use of any drug or device with such little study and without much additional animal research (National Bioethics Advisory Commission). The actual risks of physical harm to the cloned child cannot be certain without conducting experiments on human beings. This in itself is unethical because no one knows what will happen and the child is in danger because one does not know what is going to happen, and are possibly leading to a child who could be disabled and have developmental difficulties.

Human cloning would violate a person's individuality and take away a child's identity. Cloned children would see themselves not as a person, but as an object that their parents could discard because of imperfection. A family is no longer a genuine family.

Children should be valued for who they are, not according to how closely they meet their parents' expectations. If a child were cloned, his life would already have been lived by another human being. Suppose a boy is cloned from a grandparent. The cloned child knows too much about himself because another person in the world is exactly like him. It is unfair for the earlier "twin" to determine the child's life in this way. Imagine a world in which cloning is permitted and practiced. Human cloning poses a huge risk to society and nature. It is unethical and unacceptable, inappropriate and intolerable. Society should not reduce itself to cloning of humans for its own benefit. Cloning would produce many more problems than improvements. The course of life should be left up to nature, the way it has been since the beginning of time. 
 

Bibliography

Batra, Karen. "Process of Cloning." 2008. clonesafety.org. 17 April 2012 <http://www.clonesafety.com/cloning/facts/process/>.

"science museum." 27 April 2012 <http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/antenna/dolly/121.asp>.

"WHAT IS CLONING?" 2012. Learn.Genetics. 17 April 2012 <http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/tech/cloning/whatiscloning/>.

Difficulties

Author’s note: This is a piece on the similar themes used in the two books April Morning and I Am Number Four.

In life there are certain aspects to the passage from childhood to adulthood that create this transition. In the books April Morning by Howard Fast and I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore the disagreements between the adult authority figure and the adolescent play a key role in this theme. There are many similar themes in these two books but the main one is “growing up”. This theme presents many challenges to the main characters of each book. Some of the challenges are conflicts, loss of innocence and overcoming adversity. The challenges experienced by the main characters play pivotal roles in their transition from childhood to adulthood.

Conflicts are one of the many challenges adolescents face and can be very hard to overcome. Some conflicts that occur in both books are arguments between the guardian and child. For example in both books the characters have tantamount arguments with their guardian. In April Morning, the main character (Adam) gets into arguments with his dad (Moses) about him being a man. Adam feels that he should be considered a man but his dad doesn’t. This argument affects on how Adam looks at his dad, and realizes the authority needed to be an adult. While in the other book the main character (John) gets in an argument with his guardian about why he tried to run away. John argued with Henri, saying it was because he wanted to start a normal life but eventually Henri explained to him that this is not possible. John realizes what would have happened to him and ends up apologizing to Henri, and is closer to adulthood because he now knows how much thought is needed before he acts.

Another challenge that takes place during the process of growing up would be the loss of innocence. The loss of innocence reflects the changes that a person experiences as they grow up and comes to certain realizations that things aren’t as perfect as they once thought. Coincidently, both of the characters have the same tragic loss of innocence. Moses of April Morning dies in the latter part of the book after getting shot during the war. Adam was present when this happened and experiencing Moses’ death was definitely a cause of the loss of his innocence. Henri, on the other hand, dies while protecting John from the Mogadorians (bad guys). The Mogadorians are trying to kill John and because Henri is John’s guardian he tries to save him, but tragically ends up getting himself killed. The loss of innocence is a common aspect experience by individuals as they mature.

Although these are tough challenges that a person faces in life, I feel that the most difficult one is overcoming adversity. In childhood there are many things a person needs to overcome such as the death of a close family member or friend, injuries to yourself both mentally and physically, or it could even be an argument with someone. When an individual starts overcoming these adversities, they begin to mature. Even a small child faces adversity when overcoming little challenges like walking and taking their first few steps. Each time a person overcomes a new adversity they get a step closer to adulthood. On the journey to this reaching adulthood, an individual is growing up.

            The transition from childhood to adulthood involves many challenges. In both April Morning and I Am Number Four, the main characters faced similar adversities on their passage. Despite the initial non-realization of the importance of the advice they are provided from their guardians, they eventually realize the wisdom and importance of it. Once they accept the advice, it becomes clear that using the knowledge will help to overcome the challenges presented.  It will also assist them into successfully complete their journeys into adulthood.

Poem Parody

Your mom is alive,

She didn’t die.

She was seeing someone else,

So I kicked her out.

And which

You probably

Thought

She was dead.

Forgive me

She sucked

And I’m glad

She’s outta my life

This relates to our novel because it is about how Christopher’s mom cheated on his dad with Mr. Shears. This poem is from Christopher’s dad’s point of view, and it is written towards Christopher. Its tone and mood was very sad at first but then got sarcastic at the end because his dad was glad his cheater of a wife was gone.

Response to “Mother to Son”

Author’s Note: This is a short response to the poem “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes.

In “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes the author uses one figurative language that really pops out at you. This happens to be a metaphor, “Life ain’t been no crystal stair.” To me this sets the tone and mood of sad or depressed. It makes me feel this way because the author is describing how her life hasn’t been good. It makes me feel bad for this lady.