Contrast of Two Stories: The Lottery and Young Goodman Brown

Running head: ENGLISH ASSIGNMENT 1
ENGLISH ASSIGNMENT

ENGLISH ASSIGNMENT 2
Thesis Statement: This essay depicts the contrast of two different stories namely The lottery
by Shirley Jackson and Young Goodman brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
The main protagonist in the story by Nathaniel Hawthorne features Goodman Brown,
his wife Faith, Goodly Clouse an older woman who happens to be the teacher of religious
subjects, the devil are the main characters, whereas in the short story “The Lottery”, Mr.
Summers, Mrs Hutchkinson, Warner the old man, Tessie and Bill along with the three
children Nancy, Dave and Bill (Shirley Jackson, 1948).
There were no outstanding qualities as such in story of the Goodman Brown on the
contrary he developed a very unique trait of not being able to accept the reality. The character
has developed these qualities of being the evil due to his susceptible mind. His own diabolical
characteristics lead him into that narrow forest. He could not believe on his wife and
displayed a care free attitude which in return he received as and when he was dying
(Williams, 2018).
Brown’s transgression is pride as it can be seen in the story (Hawthorne, 2018). In
case of the lottery story, it also signifies that how the people are living on the false beliefs.
Tessie Hutchinson symbolizes those people as the creators of the injustice as they all believed
on the false hope of winning the large amount of the money. She herself is a hypocrite person
who was participating in the lottery and was happy until her family is chosen to pay back for
the black spot in the chit. Bill Hutchinson on the other hand was not worried about her wife,
rather than the traditions followed by the society. The older man also determines that the old
values are something that one cannot take out of the person and therefore he resists changing
the system.
The tone of the lottery story fluctuates from peaceful, calm and tranquil moments to
one of the most horrific and the cautious moment. On the other hand the tone of the Goodman
Brown is a serious tone. Earlier the author keeps a rather sceptical tone and thereafter the
tone went on towards the negative zone. The tone of the Goodman Brown suggests the
happening of the serious events (Robinson, 2019).
The author of the lottery uses different mediums to write the story such as using of the
metaphors and theme of the story also includes the errie and the dangerous environment.
Large amount of irony has also been presented in the story. The story consists of the elements
of shock and horror. That’s what makes the writing special as the writer has made use of the