What comes to your mind when you hear that the title of a story is "The Lottery"? A lottery ticket right? That was exactly what I was thinking when I received the short story. But how wrong I was. There is an unexpected twist. A very, very unexpected twist. That is because the story is about stoning people to death...
What! How can this be! You must be wandering... Actually, the story is about the olden days of the many towns in America. The days when on the every 27th of June each year, the entire town does a lottery to see who will be calmly stoned to death as a sacrifice for a good harvest.
After I read this story, I was completely shocked. What an unexpected twist! The worst part was that I read it late at night and thus there was a very heavy and disturbing feeling deep down inside me when I slept that day.
Ever since then, I did not even dare to see that picture of the pile of stones on the back of that short story. I will be glad when the discussion on "The Lottery" ends... Luckily, we are doing "The Scarlet Ibis" first.
Well, that's all for today. Thanks!
Cheers,
Raphael :D
Hi Raphael,
ReplyDeleteFirst, I am truly impressed about how you described the story. I believe that you have captured all the main points of the story. However, I feel that you could have elaborated more on the story. You could have elaborated more on the process of the lottery and the stoning of the person selected. You can try to write about empathising with the victim and understanding about his or her feelings.
However, I like how you described your feelings aafter reading the story. It is indeed vivid and I can completely understand your feelings.
In a nutshell, good job but I think that you should try to elaorate on the story more. But overall, excellent job and here's hoping that I can see more of such posts from you!
Cheers,
Roystan
Hi Raphael,
ReplyDeleteI understand how you feel as I also felt the same way after reading the story. However, that disturbing feeling was not so intense as yours maybe because I read less stories related to these topics.
Anyway, I liked how you describe the first part on how most people would think after hearing the title of the story. I can learn from you and look at different perspectives when writing my next post.
Also, you could possibly talk more about how your thoughts and feelings changes together with the story.
Regards,
Ivan
Hi Raphael,
ReplyDeleteI hope you have recovered from reading "The Lottery". I know that the disturbing feeling that you have is the feeling that most people would get after reading a scary story, watching a scary movie, playing a scary game, etcetera.
Anyway, I agree with you on your description on what people would interpret when they first saw the title. This also applies for Flowers For Algernon and The Scarlet Ibis.
However, I also agree with Ivan. You should also try to express more on your thoughts and feelings when you read The Lottery.
Regards,
Alton (1)
1I1
Raphael, the story is meant to unsettle readers. The question to answer would be what is it exactly about the characters' actions that are disturbing? What do you think is the point of the story?
ReplyDeleteRaphael, I totally agree with you. I shared similar feelings with you and I think most would have. I feel that the people are too cruel to stone people to death just for their own benefits and that is not even proven to be right. This story must have been to put down such practices.
ReplyDelete