The Perils of Indifference

The Dangers of When People Dont Care



The ending of the story, The Lottery, is shocking to readers because in the beginning, the village is depicted to be one of normalcy and the towns people seem to possess an air of passiveness and a care free lifestyle. The lottery in question, turns out to be very ironic because winning a lottery is usually meant to be lucky because you win money and prizes. However in this instance, "winning" the lottery in this village means losing your life. If your name is drawn, the other villagers stone you to death. Similarities of this story can be drawn to real life experiences, such as innacurate first impressions of people. Upon first introduction a person decides what they think of the other after, but this conception of a person may change upon getting to know them better. Similarities can be drawn between "The Lottery" and "The Perils Of Indifference". The villagers in the story, "The Lottery" lack compansion for their fellow man. They choose to participate in the murder of the unlucky person whose name is drawn. They do not care about anyone but themselves. They are joyous that it was them who was spared, and disregard the victim. This is similar in a sense to the lack of human compassion shown when people participate in wars. Capturing and torturing prisoners. Mercilessly killing fellow humans. No one cares about others' suffering. As long as they are not being held captive, torutured and killed, as long as their family is not being massacred, they do not so much as batt an eye. These are two very different articles, but points made in both relate. There is a common disregard and sense of indifference at the well being of human kind, as long as their loved ones are not affected.