Love is different for everyone.  Thus, the relationships they share with the one true love of their lives differ as well.  The way some people see relationships can be completely different from the way someone else sees it.  This is so because, as we all know, nobody thinks like anyone else.  We are all different and have different opinions.  When I read these five stories and evaluated the relationships within each, I discovered that they were all quite different.

When we read “The Lottery”, I was rather disappointed in the way the author described the running of the little town.  It was obvious that in a relationship between a man and a woman, the man was definitely the dominant partner.  This is a very old-fashioned way of thinking, not all right in any way shape or form.  I think this because many of the characters’ actions and words show that this is their way of life.  For example, when a family is called to draw for the lottery and they only have a woman to do it, Mr. Summers actually asks if they don’t have a man or son that could do it instead of the woman that actually helped run the household.  This shows that women are held in low esteem.  The relationship between Bill and Tessie Hutchinson is different, but in many ways it is the same.  Tessie is a lot more rebellious than any of the other women, and her husband puts up with it, but she doesn’t show him much disrespect or dishonor.  She simply orders him around a bit.  The author teaches Tessie her lesson in the end by choosing Mrs. Hutchinson to be the one that “wins” the lottery.

 “The Lady or The Tiger” showed a kind of relationship with between the princess and her lover that proved, to me, that women can also have the upper hand in a relationship.  When the lover was being persecuted for committing a “crime,” his life was in the princess’s hands.  She knew which door contained the tiger and which contained the woman, so it was basically up to her, not destiny, to would determine her lover’s fate.  If she chose the door with the woman behind it, she would know that he could possibly be happy with another woman, which was definitely against her barbaric nature.  And if she chose the tiger, she would have to endure watching the love of her life die.  The author never tells us which door she chooses to send him to, but we can use our imaginations to finish the story the way we want it to end.  I personally believe that she chose the tiger because she couldn’t bear to send the man she loved to another woman’s arms.  She was selfish and would rather see him dead than lead a happy life without her.

             In “The Chaser,” a naïve man named Alan shows that his relationship with his wife, Diana, is dull and unhappy.  Alan goes to a shop in need of a love potion.  His wife isn’t as loving or devoted as Alan would like for her to be.  The old man that runs the shop constantly says things that have a double meaning, but Alan is either too stupid or too excited to realize this.  The potion is supposed to make Diana obsess over Alan, he is the only one that she would see or want.  The prospect of total and complete adoration from his wife only continues to charm Alan, which shows that maybe he is at the end of his rope.  His relationship might be going down the tubes and he desperately wants things to get better.  Overall, the relationship between Alan and Diana was unhappy and I get the impression that she is trying to let go of something that Alan is trying to cling to.

“A Haunted House” reveals a relationship between a man and a woman that was so strong that not even death could keep them apart.  The spirits of the two live in a house with another couple.  They are searching for something and, in the beginning of the story, we’re not sure what it is that they’re looking for.  By the end of the story, I figured that the thing they were looking for was love.  It never really comes out and says that that’s what they’re looking for, but it was hinted at.

The story “The Chrysanthemums” shows us a happy relationship in which the woman named Elysa doesn’t have issues with her husband, Henry Allen, but with herself.  A man comes up to her house in an old wagon in search of directions and something to fix so he could have a little bit of cash.  At first, she refuses his services, saying she can fix anything that needs to be fixed.  Then, he comments on her beautiful chrysanthemums and her demeanor changes.  She gives him some seeds in a pot and tells him to tell the new owners of the flowers to take good care of them.  She gives him many tidbits of advice on caring for the flowers and lets him fix one of her pans so he can earn a quick fifty cents.  Later, when her husband returns, she is spruced up and looking good, feeling strong.  At least she’s trying to feel strong.  She has issues with herself for some reason.  The reason she feels like this is never made clear to us, but there is a problem nonetheless.  By the way her husband acts, we can tell that he is used to comforting her and feels good when she does, which signifies a happy relationship.  He compliments her on how good she looks and when she says she’s strong, he simply agrees.  Whether he thinks she is or not is a mystery.  On their way to town, the woman sees the pot of chrysanthemum seeds lying on the side of the road, discarded like some old trash.  This hurts her deeply and we find that, even though she loves her husband, she can’t confide in him for fear of seeming weak.  She simply cowers down in the passenger seat and cries to herself.

              The way these authors viewed the relationship between a man and a woman differed greatly.  I found loving, barbaric, unhappy, happy, and very unique relationships within the pages of these stories.  I found that many of these relationships showed that the man was dominant, which isn’t in any way, shape, or form fair to women.  This, however, is how the author chose to show the relationships.  We don’t have to agree, but the fact is that some relationships are still like that today.  We all hope to have a happy relationship with the one we love, but do we always get what we want? No, but if we did, life wouldn’t be life now would it?