How to tell a war story begins by talking about a soldier named Rat and his best friend who gets killed. Rat writes a letter to Lemon’s sister with a very emotional and strong prose. Lemon’s sister never writes back and Rat ends up getting very upset. He curses about her, and cries a little bit.
O’Brien goes on to talk about how no war story can ever be believed because some of the most unbearable parts are true. War is so horrific that people begin to lose their minds and they have the complete right to because of the situation they are in. Anyone who can keep sane through a war has to have a either very shallow conscience or a courage that is borderline insane. I would probably give the story of Rat and the letter the first hotspot because of the way Rat feels towards the sister. The bitter, cruel opinion of not getting the letter back shows the feeling of war and the obscene and evil undertones it contends.
The next hotspot in the story comes when O’Brien is trying to decide how Curt Lemon died. Although they say he was blown into a tree by grenades, O’Brien starts to believe it was the sunlight killed him. “The sunlight seemed to gather Lemon and carry him up into the air.” O’Brien is then asked by a woman to tell the story differently because it is too sad. O’Brien realizes it is in fact a love story not a war story, and that he can only make people understand by continuing to tell the story and making things up as he goes along. Because the powerful metaphors he makes up are truer then what really happened.
The Lottery is a story with a fantastic twist. Most of the story is left to hold the reader in suspense and then shock them even more. Once you get to the end of the story in turns out this lottery was an opportunity to get stoned to death. Anyone who could have seen that coming deserves credit.
The first hotspot in The Lottery is one that lets the reader realize the truth of what was happening at the moment once they have finished the story. “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pocket full of stones, and the other boys soon followed example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones; Bobby and Harry Jones and Dickie Delacroix---the villagers pronounced this name “Dellacroy”---eventually made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square and guarded it against the raids of the other boys.” I think this is necessary to the story because it leaves the reader somewhat confused, not only confused but a little more interested. As the reader wonders what is going on they still are under the impression that this lottery is a good thing.
The next hotspot was when Mrs. Hutchinson began getting pelted to death. I think this is the turn that makes the story so cool. The story builds up to this leads up the big lottery but then doesn’t turn out to be a lottery. When an audience gets tricked like that, I’m sure it was it Shirley Jackson goal and she was pleased to be able to create the spectacle.
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