Discuss the relationship between The Lottery and Hands stories Essay

Discuss the relationship between The Lottery and Hands stories - Essay Example In the story titled ‘The Hands’ by Sherwood Anderson the reader is introduced the character of Wing Biddlebaum and the incidents in his life which led to prolonged psychological trauma and resulted in him retreating from society at large. Once a passionate and dedicated teacher, Adolph Myers was accused of molesting the young boys under him because of the false testimony of one of the boys. He was forced to run away from his town by an angry mob and change his name. While the pace of these two stories and the style in which each author unrolls the main plot are very different, they share some stark similarities in the intended object matter and societal lessons. The reader in both cases is forced to think about the concepts like rights of the individual, the justice of the situation and the impact of rigid society standards and conformism. To examine this thesis, we can first compare the climax of each story, the violence that took place and the conclusions that can be reached by examining those. In The lottery, the violence comes at the very end- it is sudden, unexpected for the reader but fully acceptable for the characters. The crowd is comprised of families who are on good terms with each other; the children play together and the adults indulge in general conversation before the lottery begins. Yet once the result is announced none of them have any compulsion about stoning an innocent woman, who they know well, in the name of keeping tradition. ‘Old Man Warner was saying, "Come on, come on, everyone." Steve Adams was in the front of the crowd of villagers, with Mrs. Graves beside him.’ (Jackson, p.21). The old lead the young in the violence and every one participates wholeheartedly. It is all very dispassionate and systematic (the children had already collected the stones) and no one thinks of raising any objections or listening to the woman’s pleas. The violence in ‘The hands’ is much more in line with the expectations the word