There are two members posts pertaining to this discussion could you come up with a thoughtful well supported response for each member discussion. They only need to be about half of a page toone page in length for each one. And cite references in support agreements of or arguments.Expand upon the original point or provide an outside source that illustrates it. You can alwaysdisagree as well [as long as it is done in a respectful manner]. Provide a counterpoint or outsidesource to refute the original comment.YOUR POST TO DISCUSSION:Plot in “The Lottery”The plot of “The Lottery” is complicated. However the routeto the end is a single one but full of suspense. While Atwoodresolves a major part of the suspense at the beginning of thestory Jackson does not. It is the suspense in the story whichis the most important attraction of its plot. This suspense isnot revealed till late in the story. Moreover there aresimilarities too. Just like in case of “Happy Endings” “TheLottery” has a plot thickening towards the end until at theend when the conflict is resolved and the suspense is over.The main difference is the powerful suspense that Jacksoncreates in “The Lottery”. She writes “There was a great dealof fussing to be done before Mr. Summers declared thelottery open. There were the lists to make up–of heads offamilies. heads of households in each family. members ofeach household in each family. There was the properswearing-in of Mr. Summers by the postmaster as the officialof “The Lottery”; at one time some people remembered there had been a recital of some sort performed by theofficial of “The Lottery” a perfunctory. tuneless chant thathad been rattled off duly each year; some people believedthat the official of the lottery used to stand just so when hesaid or sang it others believed that he was supposed to walkamong the people but years and years ago this part of the ritual had been allowed to lapse” (Jackson 1948 p.2). “TheLottery” appears to be moving towards a happy ending untilthe suspense is resolved and everyone knows that somethingbad is about to happen. Shirley Jackson proves that there isnothing like a happy ending in the story. So the plot of “TheLottery” takes a different trajectory than expected. It startsfrom a happy point an moves towards a tragic one.”Happy Endings” vs. “The Lottery” plotsUnlike the Lottery Happy Endings does not rely on powerfulsuspense. Margaret Atwood in her “Happy Endings” seems tobe trying to un-complicate a complicated plot. The story ofmarriage and interpersonal relationships is a complicated oneand what Atwood does is to try to find a resolution that wherethe story may end. To do this she tries different routes butfinds each of them leading to the same story. After all each ofthe plots has the same ending just as in ‘A’. The section A inher story tends to present the simplest plot where everythingnormal and simple happens and there is nothing complicatedor bad till the death of the two. As the story flows the plotthickens and the every next plot presents a far morecomplicated story than the previous. At the end she uncomplicates the whole plot “You’ll have to face it theendings are the same however you slice it. Don’t be deludedby any other endings they’re all fake either deliberatelyfake with malicious intent to deceive or just motivated byexcessive optimism if not by downright sentimentality. Theonly authentic ending is the one provided here: John andMary die. John and Mary die. John and Mary die” (Atwood 1983 p.3). Thus Atwood takes several possible routes to theend and one of them is always the end. She analyses variousthings at the same time through the story including genderroles and marriage. So there are several subplots in the”Happy Endings” and each of them moves towards the sameend as Atwood writes at the end. Compared to “The Lottery”where the story keeps the reader in suspense till the end happy endings presents a simpler plot structure where thesuspense is not strong. The story is just trying to reach thesame end using various different routes.Construction of “The Story of an Hour””The Story of an Hour” follows standard plot construction butsimilar to some extent to “The Lottery” where the suspense isrevealed at the end. The story starts with a death ending in adeath. The story has no subplots and takes place in a day.However it is less of a sad ending and more of a comic endfor the story. The first death is that of the protagonist’shusband. However it turns out that the report was wrong andhe was alive. People do not tell the protagonist out of fearthat she may die of shock. The protagonist instead is happyknowing her husband is dead and she is free. What happensat last is that the husband returns and she is shocked todeath. “Someone was opening the front door with a latchkey.It was Brently Mallard who entered a little travel-stained composedly carrying his grip-sack and umbrella. He had beenfar from the scene of accident and did not even know therehad been one. He stood amazed at Josephine’s piercing cry;at Richards’ quick motion to screen him from the view of hiswife” (Chopin 1894 p.2). At the end we see that the storyhas come a full circle and the complication in the plot hasbeen undone. However the reader remains curious regardingwhat makes the protagonist dislike her husband except thatshe dislikes her husband. The plot of “The Story of an Hour” issimple yet deep. The action between the beginning and theend connects the two points which are actually the same. Thewife is in need of freedom at the beginning and she ends upneeding it at the end too and the husband still never knows.References:Atwood M. (1983). Happy Endings. In ISC. Retrieved June 10 2015 fromhttp://web.ics.purdue.edu/~rebeccal/lit/238f11/pdfs/HappyEndings_Atwood.pdfJackson S. (1948). “The Lottery”. In Middlebury. RetrievedJune 10 2015 fromhttps://sites.middlebury.edu/individualandthesociety/files/2010/09/jackson_lottery.pChopin K. (1894). “The Story of An Hour”. In Middlebury.Retrieved June10 2015 fromhttps://sites.middlebury.edu/individualandthesociety/files/2010/09/TheStoryOfAnHour.pdfMEMBER #1’s POST TO SAME DISCUSION: NAThe structure of “The Story of an Hour”:The conflict of the story has a chronological order. Theconflict has a beginning middle and ending. This kind of astory I like the most. Chobin’s technique of telling orsummarizing the story of Louise’s life in an hour is exciting.The story focuses on one event (the death of the husband)but it exposes in a poetic language the main character’s longlife. The structure reflects her deep longing to be free; thereis a shock in her revelation after a short time of grief whenshe said “Free! Body and soul free!” the reader feels theburden Louise suffered from marriage commitment. The word“free” was repeated five times in this short story toemphasize the value of Independence. Actually Louisebehaved differently than other women who usually mournand wail the husbands’ death. We find her praying for a newlife and a long future. She was somehow happy with herhusband yet she felt the joy of freedom for the first time;free from marriage’s bondage. We readers know the realreason for her death. It is not the return of her husband northe heart illness she suffered from. It is the idea of losing herfreedom again.The story was written in 1894. Socially and morally speaking the notion of marriage and divorce was different than now adays. The main character “Louise” stands for many unhappymarried women who cannot stand for themselves and waitfor fate to set them free.MEMBER #2’s POST TO SAME DISCUSION: PSConstruction of “The Story of an Hour”The beginning of the stories plot was set up with a sequenceof details surrounding the main character Mrs. Mallard. Thenarrator in the third person made the reader aware that shehad a heart condition and that her sister had to carefully tellher that her husband was killed in a rail road disaster. Herreaction was not typical there was no I can’t believe this washappening. She wept and cried as if she had alreadyaccepted the news as fact.Mrs. Mallard went into her room alone. The middleconstruction of the plot continued as details were released bythe narrator that there was love for the husband but therewas also underlying issues with the marriage so the readerbegins to realize that main character was conflicted in herfeelings and felt trapped in her relationship. She was youngand a new door has opened up for her. The plot continues asshe starts dreaming of the future and freedom lookingforward to the spring and summer days that lay ahead. Thestory reminded me of how awkward I have felt not knowingthe correct way to deal with grieving about someone’s death especially if I had mixed feelings about the person.The ending had a very unexpected twist to it. As you wereresolved to the fact that Mrs. Mallard was now beginning anew and happy life the latchkey to the door opens and thehusband who turns out was nowhere near the accident comesin. Upon seeing the husband Mrs. Mallard has a heart attackand dies. The other characters believed she died from herheart condition and the joy of her husband being alive. The reader knows it was the opposite.The story contained basic plot elements the main characterhad personal conflict. The narrator moved the plot byrevealing details that only the reader not the other charactersknew. Next the story was wrapped up with a surprise at theend that the reader probably did not see coming. I thought itwas very entertaining reading that contained a goodmessage on life and the truths of how we see tragic events.MEMBER #3’s POST TO SAME DISCUSION:Plot in “The Lottery”The sequence of the events is chronological. The conflict hasa beginning middle and conclusion. The story is about asmall community that sacrifices one of its own communitymembers every year. The way the narrator tells us the story one cannot imagine the deadly end. I was reading the detailswithout having any clue of what will happen at the end. Theending was a surprise to me.The third person-narration was skillful in drawing ourattention to the gathering of people for the lottery ceremonyin the raising action. During the course of the narration thereader raises many questions. The narrator tells us about theseason for planting in Vermont. Yet the people are not happy.The narrator’s dark description provokes fear of both timeand place. She described the ceremony like a “Halloweenprogram” but the people are reluctant to participate in thisceremony. Despite a pleasant setting the people of the townwere not happy. The story reminded me of Greek mythologyand how the Greeks used to sacrifice their people to pleasetheir gods. The people of the village stoned Ms. Hutchinsonas part of their primitive annual rituals.The irony lies in the idea that the rituals occurred in a moderncivilized society. I believe that one of the aspects of The Lottery is the persistence of the primitive belief that ouractions can influence nature. It also shows the effects ofgroup pressure on each individual’s life.
