Things Are Not Always What They Seem

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson really stood out to me in a list of readings for my Literature course. It seemed that both authors, who lived in different times, shared the same views on society. Though both stories seem very similar to one another, they also share their differences.

In “A Rose for Emily,” Faulkner definitely expresses his views on society by writing down how the townsfolk spoke of Emily. They always referred to Emily with pity. Throughout the story, it seems that Emily is a misfit because she does not follow the norms of society. Faulkner gives the impression that Emily loses her only love and grows old and somewhat eccentric, allowing only her Black servant to enter her home. The plot of the story, however, is quite deceiving as it is in Jackson’s “The Lottery.” In “The Lottery,” what seems to be an ideal little town is getting ready to hold their annual lottery. Jackson writes about how the children of the town are gathering rocks and playing with each other before they go and wait for the drawing. The men and women eventually gather their children as the time for the drawing nears. Mr. Summers, the man who was in charge of the drawing seems to be a quite jovial man. The writer goes on to write about a woman, Mrs. Hutchinson, coming late to the drawing explaining how she forgot what day it was. As the people start drawing pieces of paper, the feeling of doom comes over the reader for it talks about how the people are somewhat nervous to be doing so. The plots of the story are quite similar in how they are explaining what can be viewed as everyday happenings in a normal town.

The stories not only share similarities in their plots, but in how they end in ironic twists. In “A Rose for Emily,” it turns out that the townspeople had no idea just who Emily was. It turned out she, herself, was not hiding from society, but she was hiding a secret. She had killed that lover of hers who the townspeople had assumed had abandoned her. In “The Lottery,” it turns out that the actual lottery is a death wish. Whoever draws the slip of paper with a “death warrant” on it is stoned to death by the other townspeople. Another similarity that the stories share is the use of symbolism. The black box in “The Lottery” seems to represent it purpose, death. Meanwhile the word rose in “A Rose for Emily” seems to represent the unnecessary pity that the townspeople shower upon Emily.

Though the stories seem very similar, they are actually quite different from each other. In the end of “The Lottery,” the unfortunate Mrs. Hutchinson tries to rebel against the tradition before she is killed. Before the drawing, the townsfolk mention how other nearby towns have quit the tradition due to the young folk who disagree with its purpose. Just as the box in this story has a purpose, so does the story itself. Jackson definitely delivers her negative views on the conformity of society and how sometimes rebelling can be a positive action. In “A Rose for Emily,” Faulkner seems to want to express his ideals on, not only his views on society, but on the importance of a person’s individuality, their identity. Although Emily lives her life in the middle of town she is still quite separated from the townspeople. Though the townspeople think that they know exactly who Emily is, they are proven wrong at the end of the story. It seems that Emily had a secret identity that she was hiding her whole life.