The short story "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson and the novel The Chrysalids by John Wyndham are two separate stories, that do not really have anything in common storyline wise, but are related thematically. Both stories are related because both stories revolve around the theme of making rules and regulations based on their superstitions/traditions within their community/village. In "The Lottery" the Old Man Warner the oldest person in the community recited the saying "lottery in June, corn be heavy soon". This reinforced the fact that if a human sacrifice made every year using the lottery then there wouldn't be a bad harvest. In The Chrysalids the people of Waknuk live in a post apocalyptic community in which they strongly believe in Christianity. They believed that "mutants" are sent by the Devil and if many of them reside within their village then God would bring upon them another apocalypse called a tribulation unless they were to somehow be able to get rid of the so-called mutants. According to proverbs within the village a mutant was anyone that did not fit in this description:
"man should have one body, one head, two arms and two legs: that each arm should be jointed in two places and end in one hand: that each hand should have four fingers and one thumb: that each finger should bear a flat finger-nail."
In both of the narratives if certain rules were not enforced then they believed that something bad would happen. Additionally, David the main character in The Chrysalids starts doubting the views of the village when he finds out that one of his friends Sophie can be killed because she is a mutant. Afterwards, he finds out that he himself is a mutant he then completely opposes the ideology of his village and tries to escape with his friends. Similarly in "The Lottery" when Bill Hutchinson picks the right ballot that forces one of his family members to be sacrificed, his wife Mrs. Hutchinson says "It wasn't fair." and starts opposing the community's views. In each of these example the characters start to oppose their communities traditions/superstitions because they are the ones being affected by it. Furthermore, in both stories there are other communities that have abolished their superstitions/traditions and the rules based on them, they then moved on with their lives. Mr. Adams in "The Lottery" talks to Old Man Warner and says " they do say that over in the north village they're talking of giving up the lottery" stating that other communities have been thinking about changing their old ways. Also there is a geographical area in The Chrysalids called Sealand where mutants are accepted and even seen as superior to human beings, this tells us that the people of Sealand have changed their views on mutants. In both of these parallel stories, other communities like their own changed their views ontheir traditions and superstitions over time for their own benefit. All in all both stories might not be related at all, but do have similarities thematically.
In both of the narratives if certain rules were not enforced then they believed that something bad would happen. Additionally, David the main character in The Chrysalids starts doubting the views of the village when he finds out that one of his friends Sophie can be killed because she is a mutant. Afterwards, he finds out that he himself is a mutant he then completely opposes the ideology of his village and tries to escape with his friends. Similarly in "The Lottery" when Bill Hutchinson picks the right ballot that forces one of his family members to be sacrificed, his wife Mrs. Hutchinson says "It wasn't fair." and starts opposing the community's views. In each of these example the characters start to oppose their communities traditions/superstitions because they are the ones being affected by it. Furthermore, in both stories there are other communities that have abolished their superstitions/traditions and the rules based on them, they then moved on with their lives. Mr. Adams in "The Lottery" talks to Old Man Warner and says " they do say that over in the north village they're talking of giving up the lottery" stating that other communities have been thinking about changing their old ways. Also there is a geographical area in The Chrysalids called Sealand where mutants are accepted and even seen as superior to human beings, this tells us that the people of Sealand have changed their views on mutants. In both of these parallel stories, other communities like their own changed their views ontheir traditions and superstitions over time for their own benefit. All in all both stories might not be related at all, but do have similarities thematically.
