Mending Wall And The Lottery

Robert Frost’s poem “Mending Wall” is a poem about change and tradition. Throughout the story, Frost explains to his audience that there are two men who live side by side. There is a wall separating them from one another. One man believes that the wall should not be there while the other believes that it has no reason to be done away with. The neighbor is not interested in changing the way that things have always been. On the other hand, Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery”, is a story that depicts the village’s idea of a tradition. The people assembled and drew from the black box. The person who grabbed the paper with the black mark on it would be stoned to death, along with a member of their family. While some of the people like the idea of keeping the tradition around, others want it gone. Both Robert Frost and Shirley Jackson use symbolism and irony throughout “Mending Wall” and “The Lottery” to emphasize the importance of tradition to these characters. Throughout “Mending Wall”, symbolism is used to create the theme. Frost uses this tool …show more content…
On the contrary, the irony in “The Lottery” is used to show that tradition may negatively affect the people. Within “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson begins her short story by stating that “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full summer day; the flowers blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green” (289). The day in the village begins as a nice day. It seems as if the day will bring good things, but instead, brings death to a family. Mrs. Hutchinson screams as she is being murdered due to a tradition, “It isn’t fair” (295). Then the author states right after, “A stone hit her on the side of the head” (295). This tradition may be good for some but when it brings death and tragedy, this tradition is no longer a positive thing throughout “The

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