1. Choose one (1) short story discussed in this course.

i. Discuss the main issue presented in the short story. Support your discussion with two
(2) examples. [10 marks]
The short story that I chose is The Lottery. The main issue presented in this short story is that
the villagers just blindly accept the traditions of their ancestors without questioning whether
those practices are necessary. From the short story, I noticed that no one in the village is
brave enough to say a word about the tradition. All the villagers just gather around and draw
the lot like it’s nothing big. After the lot was drawn, everyone automatically went to collect
some stones and start throwing at the victim violently. No one tried to stop the tradition and
continued to hit the person to death. The villagers are aware that this act is inhumane but
none want to stand and voice their opinion. This is because they are all feared going against
society’s standards and fear to be treated as an outcast in the village. This scenario is actually
similar to today’s society as many people just follow the trends blindly without knowing its
right or wrong just to fit in the society. Moreover, this story shows the shocking reality of
human’s tendency to select a scapegoat of tradition and ritual. Many find this short story
shocking and disturbing as it shows how selfish people can be. After fulfilling their own
desires, they do not hesitate to throw on one lake. The villagers just stood there and watched
the victim suffer. For an example, when Tessie Hutchinson was beaten by the rocks, her
husband, children, and friends stood there looking at her cry in pain, listened to her beg for
their help but did nothing. They chose the traditions over her, just because everyone else
around them did. Their beliefs are so strong that it had consumed their minds and left them
blind and ignorant, blind enough to murder somebody every year and keep silent.

ii. Suggest two (2) alternatives to overcome the issue identified in your chosen short
story. [4 marks]
The first alternative that I thought could overcome the issue identified is that someone should
voice up their opinions by have a voting session whether the village should carry on the
tradition or not. They can vote anonymously so that the villagers would not be afraid to reject
the tradition. The second alternative is that the villagers can change the tradition by replacing
animal sacrifices with human sacrifies. For an example, the villager that had won the lottery
can choose an animal that he or she has to make a sacrifice. In addition, the animal should be
sacrified in a humane way not beaten by rocks to death.

iii. Justify how your alternatives would help overcome the issue. [6 marks]
The first alternative will definitely overcome the issue because that way the tradition will be
cancelled. This alternative will very likely succeed because in my opinion the villagers
actually wanted to end this tradition but didn’t have the courage to voice out their opinions.
This voting session will be done anonymously, so the villagers can voice out their opinion
freely without the fear of being judged. If the first alternative had failed due to more people
wanting to continue the tradition, the second alternative can be carried out. Although
sacrificing animals is also cruel but its still much better than sacrificing a human being. Each
villager can prepare an animal like a horse, cow or pig to be sacrified if they won the lottery.
This way the tradition can be continued but the villagers do not need to murder again. If these
alternatives work, the villagers will soon realise the original tradition is just a superstituous
belief and they didn’t really need it to survive.

2. Based on the novel The Great Gatsby :

i. Discuss the reliability of Nick Carraway as the narrator of The Great Gatsby. [6
marks]
In my opinion, Nick Carraway is an unreliable narrator of the Great Gatsby. This is because
in quite a lot of events he is not present but he still narrates the story with his own opinions.
This makes his narration of the story not really accurate and reliable. Moreover, Nick
Carraway is somehow a bit biased towards Jay Gatsby. For an example, Nick doesn’t really
talk about Jay’s unflattering past and only revealed it on Chapter 6 although he knew it all
along. He also tried to hide Jay’s less appealing aspects like criminal records, adultery and
the source of Jay’s wealth. Furthermore, Nick is an unreliable narrator as he is dishonest in
some scenes although he claims to be an honest person in the beginning of the story. For
instance, in the last chapter, Nick lies in the trial after Gatsby's death and he praises Catherine
for lying to the judge. Moreover, Nick knew Tom and Daisy’s affair but keep silent and let
it play out. Lastly, the narration by Nick is not really realiable as it is a first person’s point of
view. Nick uses “I” many times in his narration and often narrates things with his own
perspective and puts his own emotions inside as if he experienced it before. In short, Nick is
not a reliable narrator and his words cannot be completely believed.

ii. Explain how the theme of social stratification in the novel relate to our current
society. [12 marks]
Social stratification is a division of society based on social and economic status. The theme
social stratification in this novel is very likely related to our current society. In the novel, we
can see that there are three different social classes that are upper class, middle class and lower
class. It is stated that people are separated into the West Egg and East Egg where the upper
class lives in the East egg whereas the middle and lower class live in the West Egg. In our
current society, we don’t really separate citizens according to their social class but we do
have housing areas for the rich and housing area for the poor. There is a clear difference
where the housing area for the upper class will have a security guard house where you need
a pass to enter whereas the lower class housing area doesn’t have. People in the West Egg
look up to people in the East egg but it is hard to get into the East Egg. People from the East
Egg live luxurious lifestyles and look down upon anyone who is of West Egg, also known as
new money, and have a different attitude toward life in this time period. Similarly, in our
society, many people strive to enter higher social class but it’s not easy to achieve that goal.
Next, as far as money is concerned, those who are born into wealthy families definitely get a
jump-start in life. For instance, Tom, Daisy and Jordan fall into the highest social class,
enjoying the benefits of affluence, opportunities, and social respect. With family money to
support them, they get to live their life with freedom and didn’t need to worry about their
future. In today’s society, people with higher social status will be more respected and will
have more privileges when attending events. For an example, they can easily escape from
law and felony just with their wealth. There are also cases which some old but rich men
marrying young and beautiful women just because they are wealthy and can offer a higher
status to the women. Gatsby lied about his background and said that the came from the East
Egg just to hide his past so that he can claim back his love and will be respected as a high
class individual. In today society, some rich people that have high status but came from a
poor family will also try to hide their past status as it may stain their new status. In addition,
the desire to move up the social hierarchy is seen in the current society as well in the novel.
Some people lose their morality just to be able to live the lifestyle that they wanted. For
example, Myrtle decided to cheat on her husband and distance herself from moral obligations
just to leave middle class and enter upper class. Sadly, nowadays many people equate their
social status with their value as humans, as if money holds a greater value than integrity,
intelligence, or kindness. The Great Gatsby provides a clear illustration of this tendency
among people. Nowadays some people tend to turn blind and ignore personality just for
appearance and social status just like in the novel Daisy chose to marry Tom which came
from upper class despite him being abusive. In conclusion, social stratification has a big
impact in both the novel and the current society.