Hotspots 3B

My first hotspot for “The Lottery” can be found on page 56 and is as follows: “Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box.” Although it is possible that no one wanted to make a new box for the simple reason that they were lazy or actually didn't want to upset tradition, I feel as though there is a more complex reason behind this. I think that perhaps the townspeople are intentionally allowing the old black box to deteriorate in hopes that this will end the “tradition”. In my opinion, it seems rather clear that the villagers do not like this tradition and fear that they themselves could be the next to get the black dot each time the papers are drawn. Therefore, it seems that the deteriorating black box could be a symbol of their feelings toward the lottery in the sense that they hope that allowing the box to fall apart will allow the tradition to fall apart.

The second hotspot from “The Lottery” comes from page 59: “'They do say,' Mr. Adams said to old man Warner, who stood next to him, 'that over in the north village they're talking of giving up the lottery.'” I felt that this really built upon my previous hotspot rather well. This quote indicates that, not only are the townspeople thinking about giving up the lottery, but they are discussing it. It seems to me that the people are realizing that this whole tradition of killing a villager to keep crops growing is completely ridiculous. They are realizing that other towns have stopped doing it and therefore maybe they should as well. To me, the whole idea of the lottery seems to be something that was started a long time ago and the people have since had the fear that changing it could mean their own death. This story seems to be representative of the idea that sometimes people are too afraid of the consequences to stand up and speak out for what they know, deep down, is right.

My first hotspot from “How to Tell a True War Story” was the following: “In many cases, a true war story cannot be believed. If you believe it, be skeptical. It's a question of credibility. Often the crazy stuff is true and the normal stuff isn't, because the normal stuff is necessary to make you believe the truly incredible craziness.” (page 96) I found this to be particularly interesting for several reasons. First, I felt that this really demonstrated the idea that war is truly unbelievable. In this quote, Tim O'Brien indicates that the true war stories are often complete craziness, and that they had to add some normality so that the story wouldn't seem made up. Second, I thought that another possible reason that these war stories could seem unreal was because of the skewed perspective of the soldier telling it. Each soldier can only speak from their own experience, and therefore cannot provide a realistic view, often because they are in shock or simply cannot think properly as a result of the strain of battle.

My second hotspot from this story can be found on page 99: “You can tell a true war story by the way it never seems to end. Not then, not ever.” This seems interesting to me because it illustrates the fact that war itself never seems to end. I think that the true war story of a soldier is more of a recounting of their experiences, rather than simply a story to tell to friends. Therefore, the stories would be long and endless, since their experiences were long and endless and seemed to blend into each other. I speak from experience, because my grandpa has a tendency of telling his war stories at family gatherings. They are always long and seem to go on forever, and he could probably keep talking for days if we would let him. I know that, for the most part, these stories are true because they are usually the same – though some parts change here and there, likely due to his bad memory. I feel that if they weren't true, they would be different every time because he forgot what he said the last time he told it.