Synthesis; " The Lottery " & " The Perils of Indifference "

" The Lottery ", aswell as the speech " The perils of Indifference " both demonstrate, violence and inhumanity being performed by the most "ordinary" citizens. Both pieces of work reflect on how many people remain bystanders in serious yet obvious acts of inhumanity. For example, in " The Lottery ", they celebrate an annual tradition in which everyone in the village takes part, a rather frightening tradition. Many would view this as more of a vicous crime, rather than a usual townly event. However this abnormal group, didnt seem to think so. This tradition was named to be " The Lottery ", where entire families got together and took part, consisting of a large black box in which the members of each and every family would draw from. Although what they drew, was much different than what you think. The contents of this rather large black box consisted of neatly folded slips of paper, either blank or dotted black. This lottery only consisted of one slip containing the black dot, which we could assume would be the winner. The winner turned out to be a wife, and mother named Tessie Hutchinson, she was a winner indeed. But not the type of winner you may think, a winner; only to be stoned upon by the whole community, including her own family. As she began to scream "It isn't fair, it isn't right, " they were already upon her.


So I ask you, would you feel obligated to take action, in such an act of injustice? As the speech " The Perils of Indifference " indicates taking action too late, may result in unreversable immense damage, and may not be forgiven or forgotten. A prime example, presented in this story would be " The Holocaust ", in which many Jew's were victims of genocide. And this takes me back to having the ability to take action in events of injustice. This speech fully expresses how America had the full capability to aid in this horrific act of violence, yet chose to ignore the situation at hand until it was far too late.