Comparative Essay Example: The Wife's Story vs. The Lottery

How can the author mislead readers to believe one meaning, and create an unexpected conclusion? "The Wife's Story" has a better perception of reality than "The Lottery". Just as this, the author uses perception to trick the reader into believing something that was different than what is actually being told. The Wife's Story more effectively develops the theme of perception versus reality by leading the reader to assume a false narrative about the identity of her husband, the motives and identity of her family, and introducing ironic elements throughout the story. 

One reason why " The Wife's Story " develops the theme of perception more effectively is because the author led the reader to assume that the husband was the only wolf. In the story the reader sees the wife describing the husband's family making it seem as if it only came from his bloodline making him the only wolf. According to "The Wife's Story" by Ursula K. Le Guin, " It was in his father’s blood. I never knew his father, and now I wonder what became of him." and " There was some talk about him, tales, that came out after what happened to my husband. It’s something runs in the blood, they say, and it may never come out, but if it does, it’s the change of the moon that does it." This shows that the wife describes the husband as the only wolf. When the reader is reading this can be very misleading because the reader is now coming towards the fact that there is more than just one. Although this is one reason why The Wife's Story develops this theme better than the lottery, there are two more reasons why.

Additionally, "The Wife's Story" develops the theme of perception versus reality more effectively by misleading the reader to believe that the story centers on people or a village. At the beginning of the story the reader is led with descriptions that describe a normal human family living in the suburbs. According to 0" The Wife's Story " by Ursula K. Le Guin," When I first met him he was still living with his mother, over near Spring Lake, and I used to see them together, the mother and the sons, and think that any young fellow that was that nice with his family must be one worth knowing." As well as," He come in and she got scared-looking, stiff, with her eyes wide, and then she begun to cry and try to hide behind me. She didn’t yet talk plain but she was saying over and over, “Make it go away! Make it go away!”." This shows that the author led the reader to believe that this was a human family. Throughout the story the reader is to believe that there is only one wolf not a whole family/village. In addition to my two reasons there is one more reason why The Wife's Story developed a better perception than the lottery.

The last reason why "The Wife's Story" develops the theme more effectively is by the elements of irony throughout the story. Within the story it is learned that the wife and children (humans) are finding out that the husband/father is a wolf but at the end the way the author described the situation it was as if the whole story was about a bunch of wolves. This is believed to be situational Irony. According to "The Wife's Story" by Ursula K. Le Guin," But I come out of the doorway, mad with the mother anger, and the others all were coming answering my call, the whole pack gathering, there in that blind glare and heat of the sun at noon." As well as, " My sister’s teeth were in its throat. I got there and it was dead. The others were drawing back from the kill, because of the taste of the blood, and the smell......We drew back and back from it, and turned and ran, back up into the hills, back to the woods of the shadows and the twilight and the blessed dark." This shows how this story could have been about a bunch of wolves and not humans. Although some people believe that "The Lottery" has a better perception of reality than "The Wife's Story", others believe that "The Wife's Story" had a better perception because the story was better at showing the different elements of irony. This is important because it shows the reader the mysteries behind everything of finding out there was an entire village of wolves; it was never about humans.

To conclude, the author persuades the reader to believe that the husband was the only wolf, the author also had the reader believe that the wife and children were a human family as well, and the narrative was much more ironic, making The Wife's Story more effectively develop the concept of perception against reality. First, the story was originally about the wife and her lovely husband and her finding out what her husband is. Secondly, the author describes a normal family living in the suburbs, such as them meeting in spring lake from a hunting trip. As well as when the children were scared of the husband, readers would think the human kid was scared of her/his dad. Lastly, the ending of the story was very unexpected. Having to find out all along that the whole village of people were all wolves that was attacking this monster/the husband. In stories like this the author portrays things but they can be blended within a story, it is up to the reader to create that image and come to the conclusion of what the author is trying to say.