The themes shown in ‘The Lottery’ by Marjorie Barnard are; the stereotypes of men and women (or gender roles in the 1930’s), and the double standards that come with the different genders. I sympathise with Grace, as I feel that (just like in ‘Looking for a Rain God’) she acted out of desperation, and this was shown through her selling her mother’s jewelry, and most significantly her mother’s wedding ring. There are two dominant readings for this novel, and they are the male and female readings. I read this dominantly from the female perspective, as I can feel compassionate towards Grace for her actions, as I believe that Ted was a bad husband that took her for granted and mistreated her.
In conclusion, I read these two texts in the ‘dominant’ reading, as my upbringing has taught me that it is wrong to kill someone no matter what the circumstances are, and my gender allows me to sympathise with the female character over the male in a story. Whether someone’s default reading of a text is dominant or resistant can tell us a lot about what they believe, their religion, upbringing, culture, gender and/or race.