In The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collin and The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, the two themes of their story are tradition, scapegoating, and sacrifice. In “The Lottery,” a violent murder occurs every year in order to preserve tradition. The same thing happens in The Hunger Games where a tribute is chosen, a man and a woman to represent their district in a deadly deathmatch. However, the two stories end with different results. In The Hunger Games, the winner will live a life of wealth and freedom while one family member is chosen to be stoned to death. These two stories have one major difference. While the Hunger Games are a punishment, the Lottery is the result of tradition. The stories contain scapegoating from the characters who try to escape their fate by any means possible, including selfishness. These two stories demonstrate the meaning of tradition, scapegoating and sacrifice. First, both stories show that the main characters Peeta, Katniss, Bill, and Tesse follow tradition because no one would dare go against it. In "The Hunger Games", the capital requires two tributes to be chosen from a district, regardless of their status. The “Hunger Games” began because of a civil uprising and to remind citizens to stay in their place. One of the characters, Peeta, says, "I wish I could show the Capitol that I don't belong to them, that I'm more than just a piece in their games" (Collins). He knows the districts must suffer because of the loss to the Capitol, it's a mistake, but he knows the tradition must be followed or else. At the beginning of The Lottery, the citizens of a small town all gather in the town square for the lottery. With only three hundred people in the town, the lottery only takes two hours...... middle of paper ......Andersen) . Both stories rely on tradition for society to function. Katniss and Tesse realize that if they don't participate, the harm will fall on their families. To maintain order and balance, tradition, however cruel and harsh it may be, must be followed. Sacrifice is beneficial in both of these stories because without sacrifice, the characters would put their families in a bad situation unless they did their part. Both The Hunger Games and The Lottery demonstrate that “the odds are not always always in their favor” (Collins). Works Cited Collins, Suzanne. “The Hunger Games”. SparkNotes. SparkNotes and Web. April 1, 2014.Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery”. SparkNotes. SparkNotes and Web. April 1, 2014.Andersen, Kia. “Kia Papaya Blog”. : Thematic comparison between The Hunger Games and The Lottery. Blogspot.com, March-April. 2012. Internet. April 1. 2014.