After reading the stories “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “The Lady or the

Tiger” by Frank R. Stockton, I have been thinking on the subject of fairness.  I believe that life, of course, is not fair, but when someone has the power to make something fair, they should.  Often, we find that things aren’t fair and we complain, but we must understand that we can’t simply have things handed to us on a silver platter because there would be no challenges or fun in life.  Though this is a hard concept to comprehend, I think that it is true.

            In “The Lottery,” I believe that, even though this is a barbaric thing to do in the first place, it was fair in its own way.  Everyone in the town had to draw a slip of paper from the same box, so everyone had an equal chance of being stoned to death.  The only thing that’s not fair about this whole ordeal is that someone is being killed for no reason.  They haven’t done anything wrong to deserve to be killed.  But, overall, this story is fair because everyone took an equal risk and nobody was biased. 

            In “The Lady or the Tiger,” however, I see absolutely nothing fair about the situation.  The person that has been accused of a crime or misdeed must stand in an arena in front of a crowd and the king and choose between two doors.  One door contains a tiger that will surely rip the person to shreds and behind the other stands a beautiful woman for him to marry.  Luck basically determines the person’s fate, not facts.  The person could be innocent and still get eaten by the tiger, whereas a guilty person could be married to the woman of his dreams.  How fair is it that the innocent should be punished and the wicked should be rewarded? Another thing that isn’t fair about this story is the situation the two main characters have been presented.  The princess and her lover have done nothing wrong, legally or morally, so why are they being punished? The princess should not have to decide whether or not to kill her lover, and he shouldn’t have to choose between death or a life without his love.  In a way, they are both being punished for loving, and there is nothing wrong with loving another person.

            In conclusion, I think that the difference between fair and unfair is huge, but we must learn to deal with the fact that we can’t always have things our way.  As I said before, life isn’t fair, but would it be much fun if it was all the time?