Theme is a broad idea in a story or literary work conveyed by a written text. Themes are usually based upon life, society, or human nature. Themes often analyze unchanging and widespread ideas. Most themes are vague, rather than clearly stated. The theme is different from the apparent layout to the text; it is normally the meaning of the text on a deeper, more abstract level. Themes develop from the relationship of plot, setting, character, conflict, and tone. The theme of a text is often interpreted in different ways by different people regardless of whether or not the theme was the original goal of the author. In The Lottery, written by Shirley Jackson, and Harrison Bergeron, written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., several themes can be interpreted; some are comparable and some are contrasting.
The Lottery has many obvious themes, as well as some that are not so obvious. One of the major themes in the story is tradition. In the story, Old Man Warner is viewed as the symbol of tradition in relations to theme. Throughout the story, he grieves on the decreasing traditional values of the new generation. This is apparent in his statement, Pack of crazy foolsListening to the young folks, nothings good enough for them.(772 Jackson). This statement indicated that he thinks the lottery is a good idea simply because it is a tradition. He lived through seventy-seven lotteries in which tradition was upheld with understood customs and circumstances; and he could not comprehend the younger generations lack of traditional values. This brings up the next theme, which is people hate change because human nature is continuous. This statement clearly shows the villagers dislike for change, Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box.(770 Jackson). Even though The black box grew shabbier each year (770 Jackson), the people firmly held to tradition. This also shows that though the lottery may be an unpleasant act, it is upheld by tradition and the peoples resistance to any adjustments in their typical lives. Relating to this ordinary lifestyle, there is also a sexist theme to this story. The women in the story hold no economic position. This argument is reaffirmed in the procedures of the lottery. During the lottery, only the oldest working males are allowed to draw for their family. When Mr. Dunbar has a broken leg, his wife must choose for him, however as she approaches the box Mr. Summers says, Dont you have a grown boy to do it for you Janey?(771 Jackson). this shows that it was very abnormal for a woman to draw during the lottery. The theme of compliance is extremely ordinary in the text. The villagers comply with the annual lottery with no questions asked. They do not question the purpose or the values of the lottery. Compliance is shown at the end of the story when Tessie Hutchinson is stoned to death by her own children. This theme also relates to the fact that the villagers think of the lottery as a civic activity. The people of the town did not see the lottery as this terrible event; they just saw it as their duty as citizens of the town even if it was one of their own family members.
In Harrison Bergeron, written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., the main theme is absolute equality. The story is literally exaggerated to its limit by showing; what is means to be equal in every way by having people not being able to show any form of intelligence or creativity in any way. I think Vonnegut was probably trying to warn our society of a similar kind of equality; a type of equality that can be fatal for human race. Vonnegut illustrates that the fact of consistency leads to the loss of individuality; as a result of absolute imperfection of humanness. Vonnegut also presented a scary view for the future society, where everyone was equal. As stated in the text, Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else.(757 Vonnegut), and it was the job of the United States Handicapper General to keep it this way. Beautiful people had to wear ugly mask. People not heavy enough had to wear handicap bags full of lead. Clever people had to wear a radio in their ear tuned to the government transmitter, which sent out sharp noises to keep people from taking advantage of their brains. Although absolute equality was the main theme, tradition was another theme in the story. People who were smart, pretty, creative, or anything else above the below average person in the town had to wear handicaps. This was a tradition that was carried on year after year so every was equal. This illuminated racism, sexism, and envious from the society. They did not have to worry about this because everyone was exactly the same. To me this was extremely unfair. No one was able to be themselves, show any type of personality, or individuality without being punished for it.
The themes of the two stories have a lot in common, but they also have things that are uncommon. Yes, tradition is one of the main themes in both stories. On the one hand tradition plays a very big part in the story The Lottery. On the other hand tradition can be interpreted from Harrison Bergeron but not as easily as The Lottery. To me the whole story of The Lottery was based on tradition and traditional values, but in Harrison Bergeron you had to look deeper into the story, because it was not as obvious. The part it played in this text was that it was repeated year after year but this story had another major theme. However, in Jacksons story the themes linked together. Another theme that can be interpreted in Jacksons story is that people hate change because human nature is continuous. No one in the village liked the idea of building a new box, even though the box grew shabbier each year, because it was part of the tradition of the lottery. The most important theme that was interpreted in Vonneguts story was absolute equality. This story described a world where competition was strongly despised. Even though the result was fatal, everyone got the same opportunity to do anything. This result was the people would lose their individuality and humanity. Individuality is what makes a person unique or different from the rest, but in the society related to in the text the people were unable to experience this. These two texts can be related in many ways and the themes of the two are one way.
Many stories have more than one theme, as the stories that I have chosen. The two can be very similar in ways but they can also be different. Interpreting the theme of a story is really based on the reader. Each person who reads the story may have a different outlook of it. Sometimes you may even have to read between the lines to get a deeper meaning out of the story. As I stated before tradition was obviously stated in The Lottery but not so much in Harrison Bergeron. In The Lottery the two themes of tradition and people do not like change because human nature is continuous can be connected to each other. However the theme of compliance was not interpreted until the end of the story, when Tessie Hutchinson was stoned to death by her own children. The people in the village did not see anything wrong with it they just thought of it as their duty as citizens of the town. In Harrison Bergeron the theme of absolute equality was clearly stated. They United States Handicapper General made sure that everyone was the same in every way, whether it was looks, creativity, talent, intelligence, etc. The two stories can be easily compared and contrasted based on theme.
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