The Similarities and Differences Between “The Lottery” and “Dead Mans Path” Essay Example

The Similarities and Differences Between â€Å"The Lottery† and â€Å"Dead Mans Path† Essay Example The Similarities and Differences Between â€Å"The Lottery† and â€Å"Dead Mans Path† Paper The Similarities and Differences Between â€Å"The Lottery† and â€Å"Dead Mans Path† Paper Essay Topic: The Lottery and Other Stories Contrast Comparison Essay on â€Å"The Lottery† and â€Å"Dead Mans Path† Carmen Nonon Ms. Judith King English 111 8 April 2009 The Similarities and Differences Between â€Å"The Lottery† and â€Å"Dead Man’s Path† In the two short stories †The Lottery† by Shirley Jackson and â€Å"Dead Men’s Path† by Chinua Achebe, tradition plays a part. In â€Å"The Lottery†, the villagers gather together once a year and meet in the square for a drawing to determine that year’s sacrifice. In â€Å"Dead Men’s Path† the story is about a pathway to a burial site that passes through the school grounds, which was closed off by Mr. Obi, the headmaster of the school who had a different religious belief than the villagers. â€Å"The Lottery† and â€Å"Dead Man’s Path† have a similarity in that they both have death in them. In â€Å"The lottery†, the idea is that the head of every family picks a piece of paper from the black box. If the piece of paper has a black dot on it, a member of the family is stoned to death. In â€Å"Dead Men’s Path†, the people of the village say that their dead relatives depart by the path and their ancestors visit them. It is also the path of children coming in to be born. So the people in the village believe that a village woman, who died two days after giving birth to her child, died because Mr. Obi blocked the burial pathway. The common theme of control is reflected in both of the stories. In â€Å"Dead Men’s Path† Mr. Obi blocks the path from the villagers to take control over them passing through the school compound, so that they wouldn’t destroy the beautiful garden with its hibiscus and allamanda hedges. In â€Å"The Lottery† Mr. Summer was a powerful, wealthy man who controlled and put all his energy to the activities in the town such as square dances and the Halloween programs. The Lottery† and â€Å"Dead Man’s Path† have a major contrast in that a different belief system is what leads to death. In â€Å"The Lottery† the villagers believed that all had been well when the village was tiny and by performing the ritual of sacrificing a villager they would have control over the population from growing. In â€Å"Dead Men’s Path† the villagers strongly believed that by blocking the pathway something bad would happen. Another difference between the stories is that â€Å"The Lottery† is a reality for the characters; whereas, in â€Å"Dead Men’s Path† there are spiritual forces. In â€Å"The Lottery† villagers turn to Mrs. Hutchinson and physically stone her to death, and in Dead Men’s Path the woman died from natural childbirth, due to a superstition, which is a belief and not a physical act. There are characters in both stories who sought to modernize their villagers. In â€Å"The Lottery† Mr. Adams questions the Lottery and says to Old Man Warner that other villagers are thinking about giving up the lottery and to practice the modern methods. Old Man Warner makes a remark and says â€Å"Pack of crazy fools,† and then tries to explain the importance of the ritual to survival of the village. In â€Å"Dead Men’s Path†, the village priest of Ani called Mr. Obi to discuss the closing of path and explain that the life of the villagers depend on it. That there dead relative departs by it, and their ancestors visit through the path. Mr. Obi listened with a closed mind and refused to listen to the priest and refused to open the path, but when a white supervisor came to inspect the school he wrote a nasty report, therefore changing the past and making new traditions. The differences in â€Å"The Lottery† is that Mr. Adams spoke his opinion to one individual instead of meeting with the villagers and discuss why they don’t stop the practice of the lottery. The difference in Dead Men’s Path is the initial approach taken by the priest and the villagers was successful. Because that they tried to close it unsuccessfully, it is assumed that the other attempts were unsuccessful. While both stories have similarities, they also have differences. They can both be compared when looking at the themes of death and control. However, both stores are very different. The belief system of each story and the reality vs. spiritual tendencies are ways the stories are different.

Easy Emerald Geode Crystal Project

Easy Emerald Geode Crystal Project Grow this crystal geode overnight using plaster for the geode and a non-toxic chemical to make simulated emerald crystals. Emerald Crystal Geode Materials A geode is a hollow rock that is filled with small crystals. This homemade geode is much like a natural one, except these crystals take hours to form rather than millions of years. monoammonium phosphate (also called ammonium phosphate, sold as a plant fertilizer or for use in dry fire extinguishers)  hot waterfood coloringplaster of Paris   Prepare the Geode Prepare a hollow plaster of Paris rock: First you need a rounded shape in which you can mold your hollow rock. The bottom of one of the depressions in a foam egg carton works great. Another option is to set a piece of plastic wrap inside of a coffee cup or paper cup.Mix a small amount of water in with some plaster of Paris to make a thick paste. If you happen to have a couple of  seed crystals  of ammonium phosphate, you can stir them into the plaster mixture. Seed crystals can be used to provide nucleation sites for the crystals, which can produce a more natural-looking geode.Press the plaster of Paris against the sides and bottom of the depression to make a bowl shape. Use plastic wrap if the container is rigid, so that its easier to remove the plaster.Allow about 30 minutes for the plaster to set up, then remove it from the mold and set it aside to finish drying. If you used plastic wrap, peel it off after you pull the plaster geode out of the container. Grow the Crystals Pour about a half cup of very hot tap water into a cup.Stir in ammonium phosphate until it stops dissolving. This occurs when a few crystals start to accumulate at the bottom of the cup.Add food coloring to color your crystals.Set your plaster geode inside a cup or bowl. You are aiming for a container that is a size such that the crystal solution will just cover the top of the geode.Pour the crystal solution into the geode, allowing it to overflow into the surrounding container and eventually cover the geode. Avoid pouring in any undissolved material.Set the geode in a location where it wont be disturbed. You should see crystal growth overnight.When you are pleased with the appearance of your geode (overnight up to a few days), remove it from the solution and allow it to dry. You can pour the solution down the drain.Keep your geode beautiful by protecting it from high humidity and dust. You can store it wrapped in a paper towel or tissue paper or inside of a display case. Tips and Tricks If green isnt your color, you can use any color of food color you like.You can grow geodes using other chemicals, like salt, sugar, or Epsom salts.If you dont have Plaster of Paris or simply dont want to mess with it, you can grow the geode inside a clean egg shell. The egg shell is calcium carbonate, so this geode is much like a natural mineral. If you pour the crystal solution over the egg shell, youll get crystals both outside and inside the shell. To get crystals only on the inside, fill the shell with the solution.An advanced form of this project is to grow crystals inside a rock that you can crack open to see the crystals. This takes a bit more work, but produces a cool effect.You can hollow an egg shell by making a small hole in one end of the shell and using a needle to stir up the egg. Shake out the egg and allow the shell to dry before filling the hole with the crystal solution. You may need to use a needle for this. After filling the egg, make sure the hole is at the top, so it wont get plugged with crystals. Allow a day for the geode to fill. Drain off the solution and youre done! You might wish to allow several days before opening this geode, to make certain the inside is completely dry.