Comparison Of The Veldt And The Lottery

The major differences and comparisons between "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury, and "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, are towards the settings of each stories. "The Veldt", takes place in a technologically advanced era, while the characters in "The Lottery", live in a village in a prior time period. It is evident that there is a distinct similarity in emotional settings, as well as contrasting differences in the social and intellectual settings of both stories.

One distinct difference in both stories is the major difference in the social aspects of the setting. The class and wealth are different in relation to the two societies, as the characters in "The Veldt" are much more higher classed and very wealthy for their time as this quote proves: "They walked down the hall of their soundproofed Happylife Home, which had cost them thirty thousand dollars installed, this house which clothed and fed and rocked them to sleep and played and sang and was good to them."(Bradbury 1). This quote shows that the Hadley family was higher in class as well as wealthy, as they purchased a home which does everything for them, from cleaning up after them, to rocking them to sleep. This also shows that they are very stress-free and do not do any physical work since their house does everything for them. The characters in "The Lottery" are at a lower working class and lack in prosperity. They live in a village with no more than 300 people and mainly work as farmers to feed the rest of the village. (Jackson 1). This shows that they are at lower social class than the people in "The Veldt", as they have to physically work to maintain their life and have a much more different social setting. Also the suburban area where the characters from "The Veldt" are from is much more rich and higher classed compared to the village where the inhabitants of "The Lottery" originate.

Another difference in the stories is the intellectual distinction between them. The family in "The Veldt" is very high in intellect because of their advanced technological equipment that assists them in learning. This is proven through their children having a much better education at a younger age by the use of the "nursery". (Bradbury 1). Their intelligence is shown throughout the course of the story, the way they speak to their parents, their vocabulary, and even the ability to change the nursery. All of this is because of the intellectual setting that the author has placed in the story. Whereas the characters from "The