Jessica Blog 2

I thought all the short stories were good but "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson and "An Occurrence at owl creek bridge" by Ambrose Bierce were two of my favorites. I was shocked by the ending of "The Lottery", Jackson really lull her readers into thinking that the story was going to be a little ordinarily happy story with a happy end, being that the story starts off describing the village and how its little and talks about how the kids are in school and playing, the adults chattering, husbands spending time with their wives the author also gives an description about the weather how it was sunny and bright in the middle of summer, a reader would have never anticipated a more horrific ending. This short story consist of Irony, for example in the Title itself; "The Lottery" you automatically assume the story is going to be about someone winning money or someone's life changing for the better, and even when Tessie was picked as the "winner" is a type of Irony because most the time when someone is picked in a raffle are drawing of some sort the "winner" is usually given something or benefits in some way, but in this story that wasn't the case. I believe in this story the point of view was in 3rd person because the narrator did not participate in any action as one of the characters, however im not sure if I think the point of view is omniscient because the narrator didn't really tell information about the characters, I felt the narrator didn't know everything about the characters, like for example the author would say "all of the children' or "The men and woman" and yeah there were some significant like Summers, Tessie, etc. but I actually did not know much about them except they live in the same village, I related to none of them more then the the other. I think Jackson made that a point and used this strategy on purpose and I think the story benefited from it because its like all of the characters are just as valuable are even as UN-valuable as one another, meaning that anybody's name could have been picked from that box, none of them were above or below it all, nobody was safe. Using this strategy the author creates suspense and doubt. The author also misleads in the the title, the first paragraph and also through the story leaving the readers flabbergasted as the story unfolds. On the other hand "An Occurrence at owl Creek Bridge" was not as much as a misleading story, I felt the story started off cold and dark and ended that way. This story was also in 3rd person but more towards limited omniscient point of view, I think this because the narrator knew a lot of information about this guy Peyton, he was a plantar and a slave owner he was married with a kid and for the most part was an OK guy, a guy you wouldn't think placed in the predicament he was facing. The author also gave really descriptive details about the hanging, how Peyton fell into the water he could feel it, he could hear the gun shots and his watch ticking which I think represented his death. This made the story more suspenseful. I love how Ambrose Bierce told the story I think it was really spiritual and sort of represents death and after life as well as one's mans love for his family when he was being hung and he thought about his family and how he wanted to see them again one last time, I think the part with him escaping and going through the forest and going back home and seeing his family like if nothing happen signifies his last unfinished business, kind of like he had to see them before he goes and he got to to him he got to see them and then at the end the bright light came and he was hanging from the tree. I think the light represents his "passing" not his death but his passing. Either way the stories were both really good and I liked both.