The Lottery and The Rocking-Horse Winner - Assignment Example

In The Rocking-Horse Winner, D.H. Lawrence (1926) emphasizes the limitations of coveting material wealth. These stories share the same conflicts and characters, where protagonists clash with their communities and inner selves, but they are different in settings and themes, because The Lottery focuses on the fatal consequences of conformity to tradition, while The Rocking-Horse Winner highlights the grave outcomes of greed and materialism.These stories have the same conflicts because of the protagonists' clash with their societies and inner struggles.

Human-versus-society conflict happens when people face adversities that arise from their environments. Jackson (1948) uses the tone of the story to demonstrate that some people want to discontinue the lottery. Mr. Adams tells Old Man Warner that “…over in the north village they're talking of giving up the lottery” (Jackson, 1948, par. 32). Just by expressing it publicly, he seems to also want to stop their tradition. Mrs. Hutchinson, knowing so well that she might be the chosen one, questions the fairness of the lottery: “It wasn't fair” (Jackson, 1948, par. 52). These people become increasingly aware of the injustice of the lottery, but they have no collective will in changing it.

Lawrence (1926) has a similar character with external conflict. Paul grows up in a household where money is the most important priority. He learns that luck brings wealth, and wealth gives happiness from his family. One time, he stresses to his mother that he has luck, but his mother patronizes her: “The boy saw she did not believe him; or, rather, that she paid no attention to his assertion” (Lawrence, 1926, par.40). Because of this childish treatment, he becomes more childish and develops an obsession to prove his luck.

These protagonists are opposing their society, which does not believe in their beliefs.