read the short stories attached, and then answer the questions.
Questions:
“The Lottery,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” and “Harvey’s Dream” discussion.
1. There is an overall theme running through Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery.” And that theme is blindly following tradition. Or how people, even the best, most well-meaning people, can fall prey to “groupthink,” to what others expect and/or demand of them, to not rocking the boat or speaking out when they should because sometimes it is easier to conform. But you can see the disastrous, and deadly, consequences this attitude had in Jackson’s story. Are there any current situations, examples, where you can find this today in our day and age? Where people blindly follow tradition, no matter what kind, and without thinking of the consequences? Maybe… you have done it?
2. At the end of the short story by Edgar Allan Poe, “The Cask of Amontillado,” we find something shocking, other than the murder that has been perpetrated by one of the characters. It has to do with the time of the crime and the person who committed it. What is it that the reader finds out about when this act took place?
3. “Harvey’s Dream” is the stuff nightmares are made of. Author Stephen King plays with the reader by making him/her doubt if what he/she is reading is real… or is all in the head of one of the characters, Harvey. It is a suspense story with elements of horror in the sense that what could be happening in the characters’ lives is truly horrific. But don’t expect monsters or aliens here. Sometimes, we are those monsters or alien s.After reading the piece, consider the following: Do you think the plot of this story, what is happening, is all in Harvey’s imagination? Or is it real? Find a line (s) in the story where you could get clues as to why you think that way, whether the situation is imaginary or real, to back up your position.
