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Dai’Shaneak Martin
English 112L
Term Paper
April 11, 2016
Death in a Family

Families are those people we are close to. Some are blood related while others are related

by loyalty. Whatever the reason these people are really special. Time with the people who mean

the most to us is priceless. They are not always going to be around when we need them so what

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happens when they are no longer with us?

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Two stories that focus on two common themes are The Lottery by Shirley Jackson and

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Now I need a place to hide away by Ann Hood. These stories make the audience understand the
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importance of cherishing loved ones before it’s too late. They create memories both good and
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bad before the end is reached, and tragically both stories end with the death of a family member.
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From these stories we learn that death could happen at any time so it is important to make every
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second count.
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In The Lottery by Shirley Jackson a small town is gathering for what the town calls the
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“lottery”. This is not the lottery that most people think of as a way to gamble and win money, but
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this lottery costs someone their life. The death of a person is determined by the person’s own
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family members based on who has a black dot on their slip of paper. The families learned that

sometimes betrayal is necessary. On this particular day someone in the Hutchinson family had to
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face death. Unfortunately, the death angel had come for Tessie Hutchinson, the home maker for

the Hutchinson family. A family that depends on their mother and wife to maintain their home

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now had to live without her because of cruel and unjust reasoning. Although a reader may find

this death cruel and unjust during this time stoning someone to death was not unlawful.

Now I need a place to hide away creates a bond between a mother and daughter through

their love for The Beatles. The story tells its audience that there are ways to make memories that

last a life time even if it’s listening to music together. The sudden tragedy of death rips the

mother and daughter apart when the daughter dies from a violent form of strep throat. The

mother can no longer bring herself to listen to The Beatles after the death of her daughter. She

realizes that a lot of memories are embedded in everything associated with The Beatles. To cope

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with such a hard loss, the mother now wants a place to go and hide away from the memories that

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seem to constantly remind her of her daughter and their good times. During the story the mother

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realizes that she learned an important lesson after her daughter is gone. She states “I feel foolish
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for believing that my time with my daughter would never end”. This statement shows that the
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mother made the mistake of thinking that time would last forever. This is a common mistake that
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everyone makes with something or someone we love. Death is often forgotten until it happens.

In The Lottery the author’s use of foreshadowing made the story suspenseful. In the
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beginning of the story although it is not implied, and at first glance the reader may not have
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caught the hint that something terrible was about to take place the author states, “Bobby and
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Harry Jones and Dickie Delacroix-- the villagers pronounced this name "Dellacroy"--eventually
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made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square and guarded it against the raids of the

other boys”. The characters in the story know that someone is about to die, and took the time to
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prepare. The children even had a say in who dies because if their family was chosen they all get

to vote. Other characteristics in the story that added on to the plot of events in this story was the

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setting. It was a clear, sunny, summer day in this small town. Nothing about the setting signals

death so the reader was probably not expecting death to happen.

In the story Now I need a Place to Hide Away death was not something that could be

easily predicted. This is one of the main reasons the author put the tragic death of Grace at the

end of the story. The death of both of the characters who die in each story couldn’t have been

predicted by the beginning of the story. The author purposefully told the events leading up to

their death and then the story kind of lets the reader down when their death is revealed at the end.

A major purpose for telling the story in the order that the author told the story was so that the

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reader could grasp the theme, and possibly see the messages the author is trying to convey. The

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order in which the story was told made the story effective, and easy to understand.

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The reader handles the themes of a story a certain way, and so does an author. The reader
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grasps and understands the message an author is trying to convey, but the author also learns
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lessons from their work and has to handle it just like the reader. The author of The Lottery
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handles the death of Tessie as if it was a normal thing to happen during this time. Although the

death was cruel and had no reason at all behind it, it was looked upon as something that normally
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happened. The town knew what to expect during this horrific incident so it seemed as if it really
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did not matter to anyone anymore except for the person who was about to die. This story was a
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story where everyone was for themselves. Each citizen felt like as long as they were not the next
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one to die then it was okay, and that the lottery was just something apart of their tradition.

Tessie’s last words before being stoned to death implied that she really thought the town should
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find a new tradition when she states, "It isn't fair, it isn't right." At that instant, Tessie learned that

betrayal from family cost her life.

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The author of Now I need a Place to hide away handles the theme of family as something

very important to her. She loved making memories as a child with her cousin as well as growing

up to make memories with her children. Although she thought that their time would last forever

she still enjoyed every moment she got to spend with them, especially her daughter Grace. The

author handles the death of Grace as a difficult loss. It was something that happened

unexpectedly, and afterward the author now has to find a way to go on with life. She cannot

bring herself to listen to The Beatles because of the many memories created that involved The

Beatles in some way. Something that used to make both she and her daughter happy now makes

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her sad and she feels the pain of losing her daughter every time she hears a song. Grace was not

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the only thing the author lost. After Grace’s death the author also lost a piece of her own

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childhood although she may not have realized it. She loved listening to the Beatles as a kid with
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her cousins, and even had the fantasy that she would marry Paul. Now that Grace was gone those

memories of her childhood are also gone because she cannot stand to listen to them. The author
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learns that people last for only a short time, but memories last forever.
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Through both stories the reader learns to cherish the time they have with their loved ones,
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because they never know when that time is over. This statement can be applied to anyone who
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reads these pieces of work. Both stories imply that family is important, and death can happen to

anyone at any time. These pieces of literature relay messages that anyone can understand, and
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they do it in a way that the reader cannot predict that death is going to happen. Sometimes life

works that way. Death is in the future of everyone, but we don’t know when or how it will
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happen.

In conclusion, The Lottery and Now I need a place to hide away share two common

themes; death and family. They reach their audience by conveying that family is important, but

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sometimes betrayal is necessary. They also convey that making memories with family is also

important. These pieces remind its audience that death can happen at any time and it does not

matter how it happens. The only thing that can be done is loving one another while there is time,

and live with no regrets.

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Works Cited

Hood, Ann. “Now I need a Place to Hide Away”. Blackboard.

Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery”. Blackboard.

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