Fairness

 

As I read the short stories, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, and, “The Lady or the Tiger” by Frank R. Stockton, I was immediately reminded of the principle of fairness, and that’s what the topic of this paper is.

In Shirley Jackson’s, “The Lottery,” the villagers view the lottery as a fair way to eliminate people from their society. They see it as fair because that’s the way it has always been and because of the randomness of the selection process. However, how is the idea that you don’t get to choose your own destiny fair? We, as a society, don’t realize that we carry on foolish, unfair, and wrong traditions simply because we have always done them.

In Frank R. Stockton’s, “The Lady or the Tiger,” the narrator explains the “fairness” of the king’s court. He tells us that it’s fair because the one on “trial” has his destiny in his own hands because he gets to choose whichever door he wants, and so, by his choosing either the good door or the bad door, he is displaying either his innocence or guilt. There are a couple things wrong with this system, however. The first thing wrong that I see is the fact that even though the one on trial can choose the door he wants, he doesn’t know what is behind either door, so he isn’t making an informed choice, and so, not a choice at all. This isn’t fair because he isn’t even given the opportunity to be informed to make the best choice. The second thing wrong is that, regardless of which door the accused chooses, it could still be imminent doom. For our purposes, let’s say that a married man was in the arena. If he chooses the door the tiger is behind, he gets eaten. If he chooses the door the lady is behind, he gets married—but he already has a wife and family of his own. What if he doesn’t like the maid behind the door? Is not marrying her a punishment in and of itself? What I’m trying to say is that choosing a “reward” for the accused may not be a reward at all! It may, in fact, be worse than death by tiger.

In conclusion, the ideas of fairness presented in these two stories are so askew that they make the reader choke in disgust, but at the same time are so comparable to ideas in our own society that it frightens me to think of the things we do to retain power or keep tradition alive as in “The Lottery,” or our twisted political ideals of fairness or the way things should be run as in “The Lady or the Tiger.”

I like how you were straight forward about what you think is and isn't fair.

I like your paper very much.

Comisión de Derechos Humanos del Distrito Federal
Av. Chapultepec No. 49, Col. Centro C.P. 06040 Delegación Cuauhtémoc México D.F.
Teléfono:5229 5600
www.cdhdf.org.mx
e-mail: cdhdf@ms.cdhdf.org.mx



cecilia
tijerina virrareal amante
de amlo
de maxime
woodside
de ana maria
alvarado
de valle de bravo
de lo peor
en mexico
amlo
prd:-?

ringtone mp3 format phone ringtone mobile takin we over ringtone ringtone conversion mp3 ringtone mobile t dash ringtones cell for ringtones to dash mobile t more get ringtones to how midi free song for real treo ringtones mp3 to how ringtone send cellular us ringtones lg tunes midi ringtones in canada hockey night make ringtone i can how a ringtones of university tennessee underwood by carrie ringtone you stand ll i mp3 convert to ringtone mid Tuesday, March 4th 2008 @ 1:20 AM