Representation of Brutality in Literature - Book Report/Review Example

Compare & contrast essay "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson to "Who Killed Benny Paret" Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery", a ic short story which surprisingly brought about highly negative reader-response, and Norman Cousins' "Who killed Benny Paret", which deals with the dangers that go together with boxing, offer an important topic for comparison and contrast. Cousins' 1962 essay "Who killed Benny Paret" can be comprehended as making an essential argument against the propriety as well as the morality of professional boxing and it is all about the dangers that accompany the sport of boxing.

In his attempt to provide a compelling argument about the physical dangers of boxing to participants as well as the moral dangers of boxing to viewers, Norman Cousins is essentially engaged in a piece of cause and effect relationship. Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery", similarly, deals with another important aspect of the techniques of arrangement, style, and delivery, i.e. process of the event called the lottery in a small village. Through the use of irony and comedy, Jackson suggests an underlying evil, hypocrisy, and weakness of human kind.

"Shirley Jackson's short story, "The Lottery", aroused much controversy and criticism in 1948, following its debut publication, in the New Yorker. Jackson uses irony and comedy to suggest an underlying evil, hypocrisy, and weakness of human kind. The story takes place in a small village, where the people are close and tradition is paramount. A yearly event, called the lottery, is one in which one person in the town is randomly chosen, by a drawing, to be violently stoned by friends and family." (Voth) Therefore, Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" and Norman Cousins' "Who killed Benny Paret" deal with the brutal and malicious aspects of human sports which result in the murder of human beings, and both the works provide details about the important aspects of the techniques of arrangement, style, and delivery in writing.

Therefore, a reflective analysis of the works by Shirley Jackson and Norman Cousin suggest that there are various similarities between the works, although they are concerned with different themes and plot. Norman Cousins' essay "Who killed Benny Paret" tells about the dangers that are associated with the sport of boxing and the author supports his arguments with the illustrated of the match that caused the death of a boxer named Benny Paret. One of the most important arguments of Cousins in the works is that the sport of boxing is merely a performance of violence which is done for the simple purpose of entertaining a crowd.

Thus, the author is concerned with the physical dangers of boxing to participants as well as its moral dangers to the viewers. Similarly, Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" deals with an underlying evil, hypocrisy, and weakness of human kind, though the use of irony and comedy. Like the sport of boxing, the lottery, a yearly event in the region, results in the murder of an individual who is randomly chosen and violently stoned by his friends and family. "Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones.

The pile of stones the boys had made earlier was ready; there were stones on the ground with the blowing scraps of paper that had come out of the box Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands and turned to Mrs. Dunbar. 'Come on,' she said. 'Hurry up.'" (Jackson, 8) Therefore, both the works deal with the brutality of an event or sport which results in the damage to the life of an individual. However, there are also essential differences between the works, as they belong to different genres with different arguments.

Also, there is difference in the techniques of arrangement, style, and delivery in writing. Whereas Cousins' essay "Who killed Benny Paret" focuses on the cause and effect of a game, Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" describes an event through the medium of short story. In conclusion, there are similarities and difference between these works, although the arguments of the authors help the readers in realizing the problems of dangerous sports and practices. Works Cited Jackson, Shirley. "The Lottery." 1948. P 8. Oct 30. 2009. . Voth, Lorry.

"Analysis of "The Lottery", a Short Story by Shirley Jackson." Halloween. Oct 30. 2009. .