The Lottery

"The Lottery" is about a small town. It is believed in this small town that each year there must be something held that they call the lottery. The lottery is held to ensure a good crop year. Their ancestors have done it for centuries, and they continue to do it despite the fact that they no longer find it needed.
Our theme ties in with this story because they no longer believe it necessary to hold the lottery, although they still do it because it had been done in previous times. This has to do with culture because that is mostly what culture is. It is doing something based not only on what you believe, but also doing it because others before you have.

The Lady or the Tiger

"The Lady or the Tiger" is about a cruel king. He has set up a punishment for the accused. In this punishment, there are two doors. One, is supposed to be the reward, a lady that he will be immediately wed to. The other the consequence, a hungry tiger. The idea is, you have no idea what each door holds. This time, the accused happens to be the king's daughter's lover.  The man has no idea what is about to happen, although his lover has looked into the placing of each door. She motions for a certain door. The question is, which did she choose for his fate? The lady or the tiger?
This relates to our theme because the princess was raised in a certain way to make her more barbaric then the usual person. This may cause her to sway her decision based on the way she was brought up. This ties into culture because the way you are raised can change your decisions.

Harrison Bergeron

There are always those smart people that make you feel jealous, but if you live in Harrison's world everyone is equal.  George and Hazel were watching T.V. when Harrison, the most intelligent and recent victim that was captured by the government, came on the screen. Harrison believed that people should not all be equal. Then Harrison asked the most intelligent and daring lady to stand up and take the responsibility to become his wife. Before everyone knew what was happening Harrison and the lady were dead on the stage. This led us to believe that the theme was everybody should not be equal.  If everybody was equal, then there wouldn't be anybody achieving more, which wouldn't make our world what it is.

Scarlet Ibis

"Scarlet Ibis" is about a young boy, Doodle, and his brother, James.  Doodle was born "not equipped for this world".  Doodle had development issues, and did not develop like a normal boy.  James was very conscious about his brother not being normal, and because of this James pushed Doodle to gain the characteristics of a normal boy.  James pushed Doodle very hard, and he regrets the consequences.  This relates to culture because James was brought up in a place where being normal was a necessity.  In helping his brother, James realized that urging Doodle to become normal was not worth the consequences.

The Bet

"The Bet" is about a young lawyer and a banker.  One night at a party the guests were talking about the death penalty.  The banker and lawyer got in an argument, and made a bet.  The proposal was that if the lawyer could stay in confinement, with no social interactions, the banker would proceed to give the lawyer two million dollars.  The theme of this story was to know your values.  The lawyer went from wanting to be rich, because he thought that would make him happy, to not wanting the money.  The lawyer learned that education was much more valuable than the money he could receive.