Most of us obey every day without a thought. People follow company dress code, state and federal laws and the assumed rules of courtesy. Those who do disobey are usually frowned upon or possibly even reprimanded. But has it even occurred to you that in some cases, disobedience may be the better course to choose? In her speech "Group Minds," Doris Lessing discusses these dangers of obedience, which are demonstrated in Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery."
In "The Lottery," the villagers portray Lessing's observation that "it is the hardest thing in the world to maintain an individual dissident opinion, as a member of a group" (334). The villagers also show, in a rather dramatic fashion, how being a blin
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