¶ … Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" and DH Lawrence's "The Rocking-Horse Winner," the desire of human beings to gain control over their existence with the use of rituals and 'magic' is in evidence. Use of ritual and superstition in "The Lottery and "The Rocking Horse Winner"

In one story, magic is real, in the other it is not II. "The Lottery"

Plot of sacrifice

Sacrifice highly ritualized

Not performing the magic is seen as barbaric, ironically

"The Rocking-Horse Winner"

Plot of Paul's prediction of horse racing winners

Materialism of parents destroys child

The 'magic' of the rocking horse wins money but simply makes the family more extravagant

Conclusion

Both stories highlight the inefficient, destructive nature of rituals and superstitions

B. Stories collectively suggest that whether magic and rituals are real or false, they are destructive.

Compare and contrast: "The Lottery" versus "The Rocking-Horse Winner"

Superstition and folk beliefs are a common theme of many short stories. In both Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" and DH Lawrence's "The Rocking-Horse Winner," the desire of human beings to gain control over their existence with the use of rituals and 'magic' is in evidence. [Thesis Statement] Both stories depict the tragic consequences of this human tendency, particularly since greed is at the root of the actions of both communities in question. Although the magic of "The Lottery" is not real unlike that of the magical realism of the Lawrence tale where the magic has some apparently real effect, both stories suggest that relying upon such concepts creates an unjust society.

In "The Lottery" Jackson portrays a community which believes it must sacrifice a single member...

The story is shocking because the first pages seem to portray such an ordinary, wholesome town except for its horrific custom. Even the woman who is finally selected to die does not protest that the custom is wrong (because she would have stoned the selected individual to death herself); rather she only protests that the selection process is not fair and someone else should have died instead. The old nature of the custom is signified by the shabby black box that holds the names of the unlucky potential victim: "Every year, after the lottery, Mr. Summers began talking again about a new box, but every year the subject was allowed to fade off without anything's being done. The black box grew shabbier each year: by now it was no longer completely black but splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color, and in some places faded or stained."[footnoteRef:1] The ritualistic nature of the lottery is clear, given Jackson notes the shift from using wood chips to paper in a concession to modernity, as well as the loss of some of the chanting and ritual salutes associated with the presentation of the box. There is also a clear protocol about what age people can be to select numbers, indicating that there are 'coming-of-age' aspects to the 'privilege' of being able to select for one's household. [1: Shirley Jackson, "The Lottery," 1948, 17 May 2014, http://sites.middlebury.edu/individualandthesociety/files/2010/09/jackson_lottery.pdf, 1-2]
The lottery is so accepted no one understands that it is wrong and there are even angry noises in the crowd beforehand about similar towns which have done away with their lottery. This is seen as a decadent concession to modernity. "Next thing you know, they'll be wanting to go back to living in caves, nobody work anymore, live that way for…