Question

Both “Silky” Bob in “After Twenty Years” and Tessie in “The Lottery” face threats to their lives or freedom. Compare and contrast the way each author depicts these dangerous situations by discussing the characters’ behavior and feelings by filling out the chart below.
__________________________________________________
Behavior quote: I Behavior quote: I

________________________I_________________________ I
I I Difference of situation between tessie and
I Silkys feelings: I silky:
_________________________________________________________
Feeling quote:

Answer 1

  Bob and Tessie's personas may me considered very different, as Bob seems a person that is very proud of his success and Tessie looks like a simple person, acting unpretentious. Their behavior can be based and figured out by the following paragraphs:

• In "After Twenty Years"

  “You were successful in the West, weren’t you?” asked the cop.

  “I surely was! I hope Jimmy has done half as well. He was a slow

mover. I’ve had to fight for my success. In New York a man doesn’t

change much. In the West you learn how to fight for what you get.”

• In "The Lottery"

 "Clean forgot what day it was," she (Tessie) said to Mrs. Delacroix, who stood next to her, and  they both laughed softly.

 "Thought my old man was out back stacking wood," Mrs. Hutchinson went on.   "and then I looked out the window and the kids was gone, and then I remembered it was the twenty-seventh  and came a-running." She dried her hands on her apron, and Mrs. Delacroix said, "You're in time,  though. They're still talking away up there."

  The difference of Bob and Tessie's situation was that Bob had his freedom threatened, as he was arrested for committing a  crime, but instead of being immediately arrested, he has the opportunity to meet his friend (even if by this time he doesn't know the first police man is his friend) and his friend has mercy on him, calling other man to do the arrest ; Tessie, on the other hand, has been the "winner" of a "death lottery" in which with no crimes or bad attitudes she has been chosen out of luck to a death sentence. Immediately, the city, which at first seem so friendly, has no mercy at all and even her family engage on the stoning.

  Bob feels surprised, as he discovers that his old friend does not look the same person he made the appointment 20 years before; That can be inferred  in these excerpt of the final paragraphs:

  "  The man of the West stopped suddenly and pulled his arm away.

   "You're not Jimmy Wells!", he said, "Twenty years is a long time, but not long enough to change the shape of a man's nose!" "

   As for Tessie, the feeling she has is the feeling of being wronged, as if the whole lottery has been unjust and she is not supposed to be the one who's the "winner". This feeling starts when her family has been drawn  from the black box of papers:

  "People began to look around to see the Hutchinsons. Bill Hutchinson was standing quiet, staring down at  the paper in his hand. Suddenly. Tessie Hutchinson shouted to Mr. Summers. "You didn't give him time  enough to take any paper he wanted. I saw you. It wasn't fair!" "

  And she continuously feels the situation more unfair as she draws the paper with the black spot and finally prepares herself for the popular stoning.

 

  I hope you may be able to fill in your chart with these informations!