The Lottery Comparison of Tradition

Margaret Urquhart Professor Daniels ENC1102 15 March 2013 An Outrageous Tale Standing in line for hours, impatiently waiting for the front doors of our favorite stores to open, to be nearly trampled upon for discounted items, is a tradition we, as Americans, like to call Black Friday. Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, often regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. To get people in the spirit, most major retailers open before the sun comes up and offers promotional sales to kick off the holiday shopping season.Americans consider â€Å"getting in the spirit,† by waking at the crack of dawn to pry items out of other people’s hands while at the same time getting pushed and shoved by crazy amounts of people on the same hunt. We call a tradition; a belief or behavior passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance that has origin from the past. Black Friday is the one tradition that I thought was the worst until reading â€Å"The Lottery,† by Shirley Jackson. Jackson uses irony to suggest an underlying evil, hypocrisy, and weakness of human kind.Jackson shows many important lessons about human nature in this short story including barbaric traditions in a supposedly civilized village, the community’s hypocrisy, and how violence and cruelty take place. â€Å"The Lottery† tells the story of an annual tradition in a small village, where the people are close and tradition is paramount. The Lottery is a yearly event in which one person in the town is randomly chosen, by a drawing, to be violently stoned by friends and family.The villagers don’t really know much about the lottery’s origin but try to preserve the tradition nevertheless; they believed that someone had to be sacrificed to insure a good crop. â€Å"Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon,† said Old Man Warner. The villagers allow an outdated tradition to run their liv es and control whether they live or die. The black box symbolizes death; the name of the â€Å"winner† to be stoned is drawn from the box at every lottery, it represents tradition in the fact that it is old and worn.It has been in existence seemingly forever and though there is talk of replacing it, the reader can infer that there will be no such change. The villagers are aware that the sacrifice is inhumane but none want to stand and voice their opinion because they are afraid of how it may affect their lives. â€Å"The lottery† has been practiced in this town for such a long time that it makes tradition so powerful, it’s like a force of nature, and the people of the village can’t imagine rebelling against it.The black box represents tradition in aspects to it being old; the characters mention that they did not want to get rid of the old box because it was made of splinters of the original box. The town is so focused on how things were and how things hav e always been that they cannot see any new or improved ways of living. Nevertheless, the lottery continues simply because there has always been a lottery. In â€Å"The Lottery,† the idea of hypocrisy is seen throughout the story. This theme is evident by the tradition of the lottery itself as well as the characters’ actions.The theme of hypocrisy is often attached to the idea of religion. Mr. Adams questions the traditions of the lottery and Mr. Summers says, â€Å"There’s always been a lottery,† and that it would be â€Å"nothing but trouble. † With these statements I feel that this tradition has been around for such a long time that if they were to get rid of it, in return it would turn the town upside down and the villagers wouldn’t know how to react to not having it. They keep the tradition alive yet they create nothing but trouble in determining who dies. The character Mrs. Hutchinson’s best friend, Mrs.Delacroix, is one of the f irst to casually discuss the lottery and in contrast she is the first to pick up a rock to stone her so called friend. Jackson’s use of such a tradition and these everyday characters demonstrates how hypocritical we are in society and is cautioning readers to questions those ideas set in stone. Shirley Jackson shows us that violence is a part of human nature, and that it can be disguised in many ways. The setting of the story is seemingly civilized and peaceful, while the stoning is a cruel and brutal act. This shows us that horrifying acts of violence can take place anywhere at any time, by ordinary citizens.Violence and cruelty are a major theme because we do not live in a â€Å"perfect† world where nothing bad ever goes wrong; there is violence and cruelty all around us. We see human cruelty in its worst form because there is no excuse for it. Jackson's example illustrates how mankind can become a victim to its own mindless traditions. For example, one child in the story was depicted this way: â€Å"Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example. †(Jackson 194) This quote shows how people are mindless followers just because everyone else is doing it.This strange tale is twisted in ways that show us so much about human nature and the way we are in society. The themes that are unraveled throughout the story are shocking, teaching us about human nature on a different level. People live by the term, â€Å"If everyone else is doing it, then I should too. † This shows how even though the tradition has been going on for so long, no one actually knows when it originated; they only continue it because it’s the tradition of the town. The violence and cruelty that comes into play is brutal in the sense that Mrs.Hutchinson’s friends were the first to stone her and not have any problem with it, which shows the hypocrisy of human beings. The people of the town disguise th e evil tradition of the lottery by following orders without asking any questions. Getting pushed and shoved in line for long hours for an item is a tradition that we should not have in America anymore, but still do because everyone does it. In the same sense, dying is drastically worse than getting pushed and shoved; they can’t stop the tradition of â€Å"The Lottery† because it’s what everyone in town does.

Health and Social Care Level 3 Extended Diploma Unit 1 Developing Effective Communication in Health and Social Care Task 2 Essay

In this assignment, I will be explaining different theories including Argyle’s stages of communication and Tuckman’s stages of group interaction. Communication is the act of transferring information from one place to another. Different types of communication include spoken/verbal communication (face-to-face, telephone, television), non-verbal communication (body language, gestures) and written communication (letters, emails, books, and internet). Group members need to share a common system of beliefs and values in order for the group to communicate and perform effectively. These values may be identified when you watch a group at work. Communication is rarely simple. It can be effected easily by: the physical environment emotional factors social factors the level of communication skillindividual needs Tuckman’s Stages of Group Development (1965): Communication in groups can be influenced by how people feel they belong together. When people first meet in a group, they usually go through the process of group development. Most groups experience a struggle before they unite and communicate effectively. Tuckman suggested that most groups go through this process: Forming: this stage is important because the members of the group get to know each other and become friendly. It is the process of meeting Storming: relationships between group members will be made or broken at this stage. This stage often is the cause of tension, struggle and arguments. Norming: the group agree on rules and values. They begin to trust themselves and individual group members start to take greater responsibility so that the leader can step back. Performing: there is now a high level of respect in the group. Effective communication and performance is given. He believed that group members need to share a common system of beliefs or values in order for the group to communicate and perform effectively. Argyle’s Communication Cycle (1972): According to Argyle, socialising involves a cycle where you have to â€Å"decode† what other people are communicating and adapt your own behaviour to communicate effectively. Verbal and non-verbal communiation is not always easy. The Communication Cycle: Idea Occurs: thinking about what we are about to say and who to say it to. Message Coded: planning to say the message. Message Sent: communicating the message across. Message Received: when the other person hears what you have said. Message Decoded: when the person you are speaking to breaks down your message. Message Understood: when the other person can understand the meaning of what you have said to them. If Argyle’s Communication Cycle is used incorrectly, there is a risk that the information won’t be passed over correctly. For example, a teacher was giving his students instructions on what to do that lesson. However, one of the students was not listening and therefore did not receive the message. For this reason, the message was not decoded or understood even though the idea had occurred and the message had been coded and sent. Bibliography: http://www.studymode.com/essays/Argyles-Communication-Cycle-And-Tuckman’s-Interaction-1092710.html NVQ Level 2 Health and Social Care, Yvonne Nolan, Page 27.

Sexual Abuse as a Deviant Behavior Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Sexual Abuse as a Deviant Behavior - Term Paper Example Stronger laws should be in place for Sex Offenders because many women do not report sexual abuse afraid of revenge and further cruelty. Punishment as deterrence also raises sets of important questions to consider in arguing for punishment as restitution. It means that the state should be a positive factor in the area of criminal law. The state should not passively await criminal activity before it deals with those involved and its consequences (Groth 29).   It should take some action to anticipate and preclude criminal activity before it manifests itself clearly (Serran et al 87). Those of critics who support restitution believe very strongly and will argue that the proper foci of the criminal law are the victims and others directly affected by the criminal act as well as the good of society in a practical (i.e., economic or institutional sense), rather than a moral sense. Consequently, critics are convinced that punishment should become operative as an award of damages to victims, other injured parties, and society in the person of its political institutions (Serran et al 51). To convince most people that deterrence is a way of increasing the total social good through punishment (rather than merely reducing the total social evil) since it benefits victims, injured parties, and political institutions, as well as the criminal, the penal system, and the courts. Consequently, restitution is the most economical and ethical way in which the state can take positive action to secure human welfare (i.e., the benefits of social living) and avoid its opposite (Groth 65; Ward 41).             Stricter laws should be imposed on sex offenders because the authorities cannot control their lives and actions after the release. Oklahoma state Rep. Lucky Lamons â€Å"says it forces many offenders to live in rural areas where they are difficult for authorities to monitor... Also, he says, it does not differentiate between real predators and the type of men he recalls arresting for urinating in public, a sex offense in Oklahoma† (Koch 2007).

Computer info Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Computer info - Essay Example The Boot Record is at the very beginning of a FAT volume. The first few sectors of the volume, before the FAT, are the Reserved Sectors or the reserved area. This area in the Boot Record inform us how large the disk is and contains not only the boot sector but also a backup copy of the boot record. The Boot Record contains a field retaining the information of the sector size for a particular media and the BIOS Parameter Block. The Bios Parameter Block or BPB contains vital information such as the number of bytes per sector on the disk, sectors per cluster, size of the reserved sectors, the number of FATs, root entries, media type, the number of sectors per FAT, the sectors per track, and the number of heads per cylinder. This information is use by the operating system to properly identify the disk and accurately read and write data into it. The Data Area of the disk is divided into clusters, files and directories store their data in these clusters. The Root Directory comes immediately after the file allocation table and is formatted like any another directory on the disk. A partition is divided up into equal size clusters, minute blocks of bordering space. Cluster sizes differ on the type of FAT and the size of partition.

Use of Motion Pictures in the Painful Deception Essay

Use of Motion Pictures in the Painful Deception - Essay Example A compelling example is Bus 174 done in 2002 by Jose Padilha and Felipe Lacerda. The documentary Bus 174 was prepared from television footages that were taken on live event of a hijacked bus. The documentary aimed at demonstrating the social, legal, and economic injustices experienced by the less fortunate in Brazil. This paper focuses on use of motion pictures in documentaries to depict reality using the documentary Painful Deception by Eric Hufschmid. A compelling documentary is made using a collection of facts about a certain event that is important to the society. A good example of such a documentary is Painful Deception. The United States government asserted that the destruction of Twin Towers, the Pentagon, Building 7, World Trade Centre and other surrounding buildings was a terrorist attack carried out using hijacked planes. However, the motion pictures displayed in Painful Deception documentary completely refute the explanations given by the U.S government. The documentary tries to explain the audience that the happenings of September 11 were a government plan, since the manner of collapse of the buildings completely disagrees with the laws of science as well as those of structural engineering. A Californian engineer called Eric Hufschmid prepared the documentary. He uses his expertise in engineering, laws of science, principles about structures, the views of those who witnessed the collapse and motion pictures to demonstrate the fictitiousness of the collapse. He exposes the controversies behind the occurrence which make a person watching the film realize that indeed, the whole attack was government instigated and not a terrorist attack as the government claimed. The documentary posits that the collapse was carried out using planned demolitions as opposed to what the United States government made the world believe. According to the documentary, all the buildings collapsed as if they were brought down through controlled demolition. The video includes several motion pictures showing the manner in which the buildings collapsed and compares it to that of images of buildings demolished using explosives. Eric disputes the claims that the impact of the planes initiated the collapse of the buildings. He argues that the intensity of the fire was not enough to melt down the heavy steel beams used in the construction of the Twin Towers and Building 7. He affirms that the only possibility was presence of explosives implanted within the building fitted with radio receivers, which could be controlled using a remote gadget. To exe mplify this, he uses motion pictures from actual controlled demolitions done using explosives. He says that the terrorist could not have been responsible of planting the explosives since the process requires time and the buildings were some of the most secure in the world. Another fact exposed was the move to insure the Building 7 just a month before the September 11 attack. The documentary claims that the owner claimed twice the amount of the insurance claiming that the building experienced two separate attacks. Another controversy the documentary tries to enlighten people on is the aircrafts used in the attack. Eric uses motion pictures to demonstrate that it was impossible that Flight 77 hit the Pentagon but instead suggests that a Global Hawk was used in the atta

Music Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 9

Music - Essay Example Rock sales were relatively much higher than those of jazz. The fusion was a combination of funk, rhythm, blues that allowed the formation of a new category of music with an impact on both genres. Born at the time of the hippie movement in the late 60’s to early 70’s it expressed dissatisfaction with current (Allen, 2014). Issues such as the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement and had a wide reach. It was revolutionary and harnessed rock’s electric guitars and drum’s with Miles Davis trumpet. This was the first time jazz musicians used electric music. The impact on both genres of music was huge. Fusion combined the work of jazz greats like Miles and rock greats like The Rolling Stones. In 1968 Miles released jazz fusion first album to criticism from some of his fans. Among the reasons for criticism was that it was not a true form of jazz, it adulterated pure jazz and that money was the motivation. Older jazz generation was against it and music critic Stanley Crouch felt that it threatened jazz. Crouch says that Miles sold out for money to maintain his expensive lifestyle including drug addiction (Davis, 2014). Being a pioneer jazz had a big name in jazz music and all expectations were that he would remain true to jazz as an African-American. Critics saw this as an attempt by Miles to look for popularity at the cost of maintaining a crucial part of the African-American history. Miles had to have an extremely strong will to pursue jazz fusion as the combination of predominantly black jazz and white rock faced heavy criticism. Moreover having been a pioneer black jazz musician his reputation would be soiled as sell out for white money and bigger audiences (Goldsher, 2013). Jazz fusion has all the features of jazz including extreme improvisation and soloists with distinctive voices. Many jazz fusion musicians like Miles Davis had played the traditional jazz before venturing into the electric form. The fusion gave listeners freedom of choice and was

Legal Environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Legal Environment - Essay Example When multinational companies operate in countries that do not have high standards, they may be in conflict with both the laws of the host and those applied at home, albeit unnoticed. International operations involve objectives to set high standards of services or goods produced while maintaining corporate responsibility. However, conflicts usually arise, as no clear balance can be arrived at. For instance, US companies such as Pepsi, American Standard and Nestle were punished din China for discharging substandard wastewater into rivers in China (Simone, 2000). This is in spite of their knowledge the US law which strictly condemns such acts (Simone, 2000). It can be said that the human resource manager of the companies involved did not measure up to the task of corporate responsibility. Nevertheless, most US companies attract Americans to work in their foreign subsidiaries, which is in line with the Employment laws the US. This is point however deserves some criticism in that the local people of the countries in which US companies operate are denied employment opportunities. From the two points of view above, one can surmise that US multinational corporations enforce US laws when doing is for their benefit. On the other hand, there is a tendency to violate the US laws if it is evident that the host country is not in a position to raise a red flag. Multinational corporations have to deal with th... If the laws are in dissonance then it becomes difficult for a company to have a clear direction on which ones to adopt. It is interesting that most international investments are usually done in developing countries where competition is law and resources are in plenty. However, such countries usually lack unclear laws standards, which make it difficult for them to appraise activities of the companies. The large companies therefore develop a "big boy" syndrome and use their resources to influence the host counties. On the other hand, if the country that the multinational corporation operates in is of equal or near equal status, the conflicts are solved based on sound judgment. For instance, the UK rejected Dasani, a brand of mineral water produced by a US company, coca cola after it was found to contain bromate, a possible carcinogen (LOHAS Journal Weekly). The allegation forced Coca cola to withdraw the brand from UK. Such a conflict illustrates how some countries all over the world may be ignorantly accepting fake or sub standard products. Nevertheless, it is evident that divergence between country laws should not be so wide since some laws are actually modifications of others. In a case such as the one mentioned above, the multinational corporation has no option but to conform to the laws of the country in which it operates. To summarize it all foreign companies have to submit to the laws of the local country or withdraw their operations. My opinion is that a foreign company should not impose new laws to the country in which it operates. Therefore, such conflicts are justified since they aim at maintaining good standards of products, whether produced by local companies or multinational