What is the best approach in writing a comparative essay on "The Lottery" and "An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge"?

The first basis of comparison between "The Lottery" and
"Occurrence" that comes to mind is point of view.

Both
stories feature effective surprise endings.  Both surprises are achieved largely due to
the points of view.

In "The Lottery," the detached,
objective point of view reveals no character thoughts, and the narrator makes no
authorial intrusions.  Reporting only the setting, dialogue, and actions of the
characters, the appearance of normalcy is achieved right up to the point the hideous
abnormal is revealed. 

In "Occurrence," the segment of the
story that leads to the surprise ending is limited to only character thoughts, and the
ending is achieved when those thoughts are cut short, so to speak.  By revealing only
the hanged man's thoughts, the narrator uses the stream of consciousness that the hanged
man instantaneously experiences to lead the reader to experience his thoughts as actual,
in real time, rather than as occurring in an
instant. 

Though the surprise is manufactured by leaving
out character thoughts in one case, and revealing only character thoughts in the other,
point of view is central to the successful surprise endings in both
stories.

Additionally, the points of view also contribute
to the legitimacy of the surprises once they occur by providing foreshadowing.  In "The
Lottery," details such as the collecting of stones by the boys make the ending
legitimate.  In "Occurrence," the fine, minute details the man experiences in the creek
convince the reader that what he/she read could not actually be real, thus legitimizing
the ending.