In reading “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “The Lady, or the Tiger” by Frank R. Stockton I believe the fairness in each story is completely ridiculous. The periods for which they were written though may make them seem fair though. In the next couple of paragraphs I will discuss why I believe the fairness in the stories was right or whether it was wrong.

            In “The Lottery” I believe that Mrs. Hutchinson did deserve to die just like everyone else the years before. She tried to get out of it by doing everything she could because of plain and simple human nature. This town that this lottery was in was a tradition and for one person to escape from it would be unfair to everyone else in the community. She probably had supported the lottery in the years before when other people were dying but when she found out that she was the next one her mind had completely done a twist which made her realize that the lottery was just plain stupid and not worth dying for. In my opinion the sacrifice of human life for a good crop year is plain impractical. Who in their right mind would believe that one human life could make a crop year good? Certainly not I. For the fairness applying to the story I believe it was fair just because it was tradition. For Mrs. Hutcheson to try to get away from that is simply because like I said before I’m sure she probably supported it all the years before.

            In “The Lady, or the Tiger” I believe the fairness in this story was completely unfair. Usually it seems in stories that deal with the times of the kings and the princesses that the princess could never be with a commoner because obviously it would screw the royal line up. I think with true love though no body should be able to decide who you are with. When the King had the young man go into the arena and pick the door it probably seemed completely fair to the King because he thought well if he chooses the door with the damsel behind it then he will live a happy life. That may not be the case though. Even if he did pick the door or the princess raised her right hand pointing to the door with the damsel it would be completely unfair to him. For one he won’t be happy because he will be with someone who doesn’t love him as much as the princess does and the princess would see him all the time with the damsel which she despises so much already. Now if he did get the door with the Tiger that would also be unfair. Why should someone have to die because they love someone with their whole heart even if it is wrong in the eyes of the King. In the story though this was the fair thing because anybody who was caught doing something like that was to be put in the arena and they had a choice of which door to pick. So in the eyes of the King and the even the village it was a fair thing. That was just how it was determined whether the person was guilty or not.

            Overall I think that each story was fair applying to the story but applying them to today’s standards it defiantly seems wrong. I think even the standards of the period the stories were set in they weren’t fair just because I know what’s fair today. Nobody should kill another human for a good year of crops or because they are in love with someone they shouldn’t be. But the traditions of that time made them seem fair.