Discussion Topic
A suitable thesis statement and elements for comparing and contrasting "The Lottery" and "The Cask of Amontillado."
Summary:
A suitable thesis statement for comparing and contrasting "The Lottery" and "The Cask of Amontillado" could focus on how both stories explore the theme of ritualistic violence masked by societal norms. Key elements to compare include the setting, which initially appears normal but hides sinister traditions, and the characters, who blindly follow these traditions, leading to shocking acts of brutality.
What's a suitable thesis statement for comparing and contrasting "The Lottery" and "The Cask of Amontillado"?
From what you say you are writing about, I would say the murders are alike in being preplanned, but different in that one is part of a yearly community ritual while the other is the one-time act of a disturbed man bent on revenge. They are alike in that each is a brutal murder of a seemingly innocent victim, but differ in that Tessie is stoned by the community in front of witnesses while Fortunato is walled up by a single person far away from any other human being and left to die alone. Both stories use foreshadowing , and in both cases the victims are caught by surprise, not thinking they will die. The tone of each story differs: Poe's story is overtly creepy from the start, using such Gothic elements as catacombs and the bones of dead bodies. Jackson's story, on the other hand, has a matter-of-fact tone...
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that contrasts sharply with the macabre scene unfolding. Part of "The Lottery's" horror comes from the very ordinary way a stoning is treated by the villagers.
The challenge is pulling these three ideas into a thesis statement. You might say something like: The two stories are similar in being about a brutal murder that the murderer(s) believe is justified, and similar as well in the use of foreshadowing, but differ in tone: Poe's "A Cask of Amontillado" uses an openly macabre tone to create horror while Jackson, in "The Lottery," creates horror by the contrast of her tone to the deed being accomplished.
Both stories depend heavily on irony for their suspense and entertainment value. In "The Lottery," the irony lies in the information that the reader does not know. We think of winning the lottery as something beneficial, and even though clues are provided throughout the story as to the ending, it comes as a major surprise that Mrs. Hutchinson is the victim of stoning. For Poe's story, the irony is more dramatic. We know the narrator's plans, but Fortunato does not, so we read on waiting for Fortunato to discover his fatal predicament. So perhaps your thesis might involve the different uses of irony to create suspense. This type of thesis could involve a discussion of the murders, the knowledge of the victims, the foreshadowing, the motivation for the killings, and the overall effect that the irony has on the reading audience.
“The Cask of Amontillado,” by Edgar Allen Poe and “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, are both works where individuals or groups are unable to let go of the past. The narrator in “The Cask of Amontillado,” has been offended in some way by Fortunato. Plotting the revenge has consumed the narrator, and it has quite probably driven him crazy. The town’s people in “The Lottery,” have been unable to let go of traditions of the past even though more enlightened towns are. This adherence to tradition results in behavior that to the reader also seems insane. So perhaps a good thesis would be something like, “The inability to let go of the past is detrimental to man and or society.”