The Theme of Religion in "the Lottery" and "first Confession"

Name

Professor's Name

Course Title

Date Submitted 4 November 2011

The Theme of Religion in "The Lottery" and "First Confession"

In literature, the theme of a story is defined as the central idea around which the work is based. However, there is not always just one specific theme to one story. For example, a story might explore many different, or even contradicting, themes. Sometimes, the theme that one reader gleans from a story might be different from what another reader gets from it, or even different still from what the author originally intended. Theme, then, has much to do with interpretation. When reading Frank O'Connor's "First Confession" and Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," the stories seem very different from each other. The points of view are different and one is light and humorous while the other is surprisingly dark. O'Connor tells the story of a boy who goes to his first confession. His main issue is that he is afraid of the consequences of the thoughts spawned from his dislike of his grandmother. On the other hand, Jackson tells the story of an annual lottery held by a village. The main twist of this story is that the "winner" of the lottery is stoned to death by her townspeople and even her family. Reading closely, however, one discovers that these two different stories share a common theme: religion. Thus, Frank O'Connor's "First Confession" and Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" both tackle the theme of religion in a community – one orthodox/organized and one pagan – and illustrate, in different ways, the expectations and pressures people undergo because of a shared belief.

Themes are often left to the reader to figure out. A good story, after all, does not spell things out for the reader but allows the reader to discover layer after layer of meaning. In this vein, both stories do not introduce the theme right away. "First Confession" begins with the narrator talking about his grandmother, saying "All the trouble began when […] my grand-mother […] came to live with us" (O'Connor 1). His dislike of his grandmother is what gives him the spiritual guilt that makes him fear the confession. However, most of his dislike of his grandmother is based more on what other people do and might think instead of any personal preferences. This shows how affected he is by the thoughts and judgment of his society. Similarly, "The Lottery" begins with a description of the village, as "the people of the village began to gather in the square" (Jackson 1). In contrast to the grisly ending, the beginning of the story is light and seemingly normal. That the whole village gathers for the lottery every