An antagonist is a character who opposes the main one on the way to achieve goals. The antagonist-protagonist opposition is one of the possible driving forces of the central conflict of literature work. The actions of the antagonist not only create obstacles that the protagonist must overcome but can also serve as a reason for the development of the character of the protagonist. Antagonist is not always a single character: it can be a group of characters or an impersonal force such as a natural cataclysm, social order, or a physical object. As a rule, the antagonist is interpreted rather narrowly: only one, the “most important” villain of the work is considered the antagonist. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of objects-antagonists in the literature and to identify their distinctive features.
In the short stories “Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “Something amazing” by Elizabeth McCracken, unreal objects act as antagonists. In the first case, it is a lottery box, and in the second, it is a ghost. They have a significant impact on the heroes of the stories and determine the course of their lives. It is important to note that antagonistic objects themselves have no character, emotion, or moral principles. They are inanimate; therefore, they cannot have such features. Thus, their very essence makes them antagonists, which in its own way affects others. There is something in them that can break or destroy people without special intentions. This makes antagonistic objects more terrifying than human antagonists because their influence cannot be changed in any way.
In the story “Lottery,” readers do not fully understand what is happening. At first, all the characters in the story are excited, and it seems like something good is happening. People pull pieces of paper from a lottery box and seem to want to win this lottery: “All of us took the same chance” (Jackson 12). This impression is reinforced by the generally accepted image of the lottery as something positive. However, by the end of the story, the tension is growing. It becomes clear that this box is evil and can harm the one who “wins” in this lottery. And so it happens: at the end, it turns out that the one who pulls out the marked piece of paper is thrown with stones. It becomes even more terrifying when people start throwing stones without any thoughts about the harmful results of their actions.
The lottery box itself is not dangerous. The author describes it as an old and shabby object: it “splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color, and in some places faded or stained” (Jackson 10). It does not have a specific storage location, and sometimes it just lies on the floor in the store. However, once it falls into people’s hands, it becomes a dangerous weapon that can destroy lives. The systematic and traditional use of the lottery box seems especially frightening. People seem to not understand the absurdity of their actions and deliberately doom one of the city residents to death. Thus, in this case, the antagonistic object is a symbol of human cruelty and susceptibility to the herd instinct.
Another example of an inanimate antagonist is the story “Something amazing.” In this work, the antagonist object is the ghost of a dead girl. The author begins the story by describing how it affects people. It makes people “feel suddenly cold, and then unsure of yourself, and then loathed by the world” (McCracken 41). It is like a cold wind blowing; it evokes negative emotions, it scares the surrounding children. However, in fact, this ghost does not exist. It is only memories of a person and a set of stereotypes stored in memory.
Despite being unreal, the ghost can actually destroy human lives. For example, several years after her death, the mother of a deceased girl turned from an ordinary person into a helpless and far from the world being. It is hard for him, and “sometimes he thinks it wouldn’t be such a bad bargain, his mother’s death for his own freedom” (McCracken 45). She does not perceive the surrounding reality and is immersed in her suffering. This makes her so strange that the surrounding children begin to consider her a witch, who was the culprit in her daughter’s death. At some point, the son completely blocked access to the ghost girl’s room, and this made the mother’s life much easier. Obviously, this is due to the fact that she has become less likely to refer to her memories and reinforce suffering.
Antagonistic objects are an interesting way to diversify literary works. Unlike humans, they do not have a special character, cannot change depending on the circumstances, and behave unpredictably. Their actions and manifestations rely solely on the people around them. Hence, in “Lottery,” people themselves invented traditions that destroy lives and involve the lottery box. In “Something amazing,” people consider a person’s ghost to be something material and living, which also spoils their lives. These stories allow readers to draw an important conclusion: they need to take responsibility for their own lives. They should not see the highest value and deep meaning in intangible objects and ordinary objects because human life is much more significant. It is important to be guided by adequate principles and soberly assess reality. This is the only way to live a happy life and maintain the correct perception of the world.
References
Jackson, Shirley. The Lottery. The Creative Company, 2008.
McCracken, Elizabeth. Thunderstruck and Other Stories. Random House Publishing Group, 2014.