In both stories, The Lottery and Lord of the Flies, all the children react to their surroundings in the same ways. For example, at the beginning of both stories, the children are happy because they are not aware of their surroundings and their fate.
“‘Aren’t there any grownups at all?’ ‘I don’t think so.’ The fair boy said this solemnly; but then the delight of a realized ambition overcame him. In the middle of the scar he stood up on his head and grinned at the reversed fat boy. ‘No grownups!’ (pg. 8).
In Lord of the Flies, when Ralph realizes that there are not adults on the island they are stranded on, his first reaction is that he is overjoyed because no grownups can tell him what to do.
“They tended to gather together quietly for a while before they broke into boisterous play…The girls stood aside, talking among themselves, looking over their shoulders at the boys, and the very small children rolled in the dust of clung to the hands of their older brothers or sisters… Bobby Martin ducked under his mother’s grasping hand and ran, laughing, back to the pile of stones.” (pg. 1-2)
Like the boys on the island, the children waiting for the lottery, in The Lottery, do not quite know the outcome of the events to come, moreover, allowing them to play and have fun. In addition to the children being gleeful, during the middle of both stories, they begin to realize what is happening to them and start becoming apt to their situations.
“The world, that understandable and lawful world, was slipping away… ‘The rules!’ shouted Ralph. ‘You’re breaking the rules!’ ‘Who cares?’… ‘Because the rules are the only thing we’ve got!'” (pg. 91)
Ralph and Piggy, along with a few other boys, start to become aware of their circumstance and start to grasp the idea that they are stranded on an island with little food and necessities to live. In addition, they also realize that their lives are in serious danger.
“Soon the women, standing by their husbands, began to call to their children… His father spoke up sharply, and Bobby came quickly and took his place between his father and his oldest brother.” (pg. 2)
In comparison to the stranded boys, the people in The Lottery‘s lives are also at risk because, in the end, the person who “wins the lottery” gets rocks and stones thrown at them and, unfortunately, gets extremely hurt and may die. Finally, a correspondence between the two stories is that both have unexpected endings. In Lord of the Flies, just when the reader thinks that all the boys are going to die from the huge forrest fire, rescue comes and all of the survivors are saved. In The Lottery, the reader does not expect that “the lottery” is something bad and dangerous, so when the citizens start throwing rocks at Mrs. Hutchinson, the lottery’s “winner”, it is extremely surprising. Although these stories are set in different places, many of their events are similar and relate to the same things.
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