Reading Journal 3 (The lottery)

For my third reading journal I chose to write about the short story called 'the lottery'. This story is set in an unknown time period but probably sometime between the 1600's and 1800's in a small European village. The story is focused on one event, called the lottery. Everyone in town is gathered the the town square for this annual event although the author does not tell us what the event consists of. There is some introduction as the author introduces the main characters, which consist of families in the town.

Once everyone arrives at the square, the lottery begins. One person from each household goes up to the podium and retrieves a piece of paper from a box. Once everyone has their piece of paper, they open them. One person is found to have a piece of paper with the dreaded 'black spot' on it. This turns out to be Mr. Bill Henderson. Everyone in the Henderson family must now choose pieces of paper from the box (with the spot back in it). After doing this, it is found that Bill's wife Tessie has the black spot. She cries and shrieks that there was a mistake and that this was unfair but to no avail. The people then drift to the outside of the square and everyone picks up a rock that had been stockpiled earlier, except for Tessie. She is forced to stand in the middle of the square and every person in the town, including her own family (and little children) viciously pummel her with rocks until she is dead. This is not written explicitly but it is implied. This concludes the story.

Personally I found this to be a horrible and despicable story, to think that children would murder their own mother, as would her husband and her friends, all with no purpose except that it happens every year, is disgusting and appalling.

The author is successful in setting up the story, but near the beginning it talks about the boys gathering and stockpiling the rocks in the town square, so it is somewhat obvious what the outcome will be. However, I am sorry for reading this story, writing by such a disgusting person as this author who appears to boarder on psychopathy. In my opinion if the author had wanted to convey a message that people will mindlessly pursue tradition as far as they must, or that mob mentality is a very strong power, they went much too far and no sane person would have thought up this story as an example. Once again I wish I had not read this story as it disturbed me and angered me beyond belief.

Reading Journal #2 (The prospector's trail)

The story that I have chosen to write about for my second reading journal is called 'The prospector's trail'. It takes place in the modern day, just outside Yellowknife, North-West Territories. The main character is called Norman, a man who has dreams of becoming a nature interpreter at a wildlife preserve or wildlife center. He has a controlling wife who he has recently married, on a whim, after they met in college. They had graduated from a small college in Winnipeg about a year before and "Norman still couldn't believe it... he'd been flattered when she consented to date him because she liked his sense of whimsy". Due to a series of unfortunate mishaps, Norman could no longer get a job in Winnipeg and his wife, Jennifer, could not support the two of them. So they decided to try and open an interpretive center, with Norman managing it, not doing the interpreting like he wanted to. They meet an old man named Roy, who is a prospector and Norman thinks he may be a good person to work at the interpretive center.
The next day Jennifer goes into town to find a job, but is too embarrassed to take Norman along, further implicating her as someone Norman shouldn't have associated himself with. Norman is crushed and looks to Roy for some help. Roy finally agrees to take Norman prospecting with him but, to Norman's surprise, what he really does is search the city dump for objects and restores them to good condition before selling them. Norman is wary at first but finally comes around and ends up hopeful. Jennifer had warned that Norman had 6 weeks to get some money and get the interpretive center going and that if she caught him trying to "out-northern the northerners" (wearing a red plaid flannel shirt represented this to her) she would leave him on the spot.
In the end, Norman decides that Jennifer is not right for him and that he is better off without her, conveniently, she disappears with her possessions and their van after she catches him wearing the forbidden shirt. I know how Norman feels about this, I've met many people who try to become your friend to see what they can get you to do, or do for them. They just like to use you, for one purpose or another (in Jennifer's case, she probably thought originally that he had potential in his work), and you're better off without them. Coincidentally, the night after Jennifer leaves, Norman's insomnia (which has plagued him for months) disappears.
In my opinion, the morals of this story were two things. First: Sometimes you need to make the best of a bad situation. Norman was on his last $100, he had nowhere left to go and he still became happy. Second: Some people you are better off without. Jennifer obviously did not love Norman and wanted a better life for herself. She is a self-centered character who is not concerned with others (including her 'alleged' loved ones). These are the two messages that the author was trying to convey in this short story, and I think she did it effectively.