The Perils of Indifference

1)Title: The Dangers of Apathy

2)The ending of the lottery is shocking to most readers however this does exist in real life examples around the world. The most well known large scale example is the Holocaust where almost the entire German population hated Jewish people and exterminated them based on an unadulterated hate that did not make sense for moral values and belief. On a similar scale the when the Japanese invaded China more of the same effects followed. There are many examples of this in history such as the Rwandan ethnic cleansing where people seem to follow a standpoint that is amoral yet do not stop or put an end to it. Sometimes influenced the right ways normal people or what we think of normal people can do this.



3)Elie's speech directly relates to the lottery because the events in the Lottery are somewhat similar to those of the Holocaust. The German people that didn't like what was happening showed apathy towards the Jewish people and did not stand up for them directly relating to the common-folk in the Lottery not caring about the person getting stoned or the fact that the whole idea is amoral. When apathy is shown it doesn't fight the perpetrator it merely strengthens them. The people in the story do not show they care about others in their community and take it like it's just a minor ordeal and the villagers would "be through in time to allow [them] to get home for noon dinner." Family members in the story seem to have no importance to their family because nothing is done when the name is selected. The family doesn't protest therefore indifference and killing without remorse is present just as it was with The Holocaust example. Indifference is a factor that can lead to extremes and if people show indifference and simply don't care or want to care it could accumulate to that degree.