Attitudes Towards Death in “The Lottery” and Death Knocks

Attitudes Towards Death in â€Å"The Lottery† and Death Knocks â€Å"The Lottery† and Death Knocks are two stories that mainly deal with death. â€Å"The Lottery† is about a small town that holds a lottery every year where the winner of the lottery is stoned to death by the rest of the town. In Death Knocks, death visits a man named Nat and tells him it is hit time to go. Nat plays death in a game of gin rummy where he wins so death has to give him another day to live.The attitudes towards death in these two stories are mainly quite different, however there are a few things that are similar. Death Knocks has a more realistic view of death because in â€Å"The Lottery† the towns people act as if being picked to die for no reason is not a big deal. Death Knocks and â€Å"The Lottery† have very different attitudes towards death. In Death Knocks, when Nat is told that he is going to die he says that he is not ready. Nat implies that he is not ready to d ie.In â€Å"The Lottery† the whole town acts as though being chosen to die is just another part of their everyday lives. The townspeople act as if the lottery is not a big deal. They all talk to each other and act calmly, then when the winner is picked they carry on with the stoning without hesitating. In Death Knocks Nat states that he has a wife and he wants to talk to her. In â€Å"The Lottery† Bill Hutchinson does not hesitate at all to point out that his wife is the one that won the lottery. This shows that the attitude towards death of spouses is completely different.In Death Knocks Nat cares about his spouse but in â€Å"The Lottery† Bill Hutchinson acts as if his wife dying is no big deal. There aren't very many similarities in these two stories but if looked at closely one small similarity can be found. When Nat is told he is going to die he says he is not ready. In â€Å"The Lottery† it seems as though everyone is okay with dying. However when i t comes down to it and Mrs. Hutchinson is about to be stoned she says â€Å"it isn't fair†. This shows that deep down she really does want to live.Just like Nat in Death Knocks. Both â€Å"The Lottery† and Death Knocks have very different attitudes towards death but Death Knocks is a more realistic attitude. In â€Å"The Lottery† the town deals with death almost as if it is a game. For no reason someone is picked to be killed. In Death Knocks Nat does not want to die, right from the very beginning of the story. In today's society there is no way that people being killed for no reason would ever be tolerated or accepted. This is why Death Knocks has a more realistic attitude towards death.