Deft Social Commentary on American Essay

" Ellison's "Battle Royal" would not have taken place in New York City or any other cosmopolitan place. A small town element is necessary to convey the idea that small towns breed small mindedness. Similarly, Jackson, Mississippi is an apt setting for Faulker to describe the townspeople's impressions of Emily.

Characterization is similar among these four stories. A sense of loneliness and isolation pervades "The Lottery," as well as "A Rose for Emily," "Young Goodman Brown," and "Battle Royal." In each of these stories, the protagonist seems up against a mob mentality, and has to decide whether to submit to that mentality or challenge it. All of the characters find it difficult to express and assert themselves. Of all these characters, Young Goodman Brown and the narrator of Battle Royal are the ones who can best assert themselves. Tessie Hutchinson in "The Lottery" fails to do so and she dies. Just as the townspeople do not intervene on behalf of Emily Grierson in Faulker's short story, the townspeople also do not intervene on behalf of Tessie Hutchinson in the "Lottery." The men depicted in "Battle Royal" are likewise paralyzed either with submission or with arrogance.

"The Lottery" shares in common the major literary elements of theme, setting, and characterization with "Young Goodman Brown," "A Rose for Emily," and "Battle Royal." In addition to these three literary elements, the tone of the short stories is also similarly dark and cynical. All of these stories point out the difficulties in thwarting the status quo or standing up for personal rights and freedoms. A hyperbolic, macabre central symbol like the lottery in Shirley Jackson's tale or the battle in Ellison's, also holds together these four classic….....