The idiom “The early bird catches the worm” was proven to not always be true, depending on what perspective it is viewed, in the short story, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. Out of the multiple characters in “The Lottery”, the most dynamic and controversial character was Tessie Hutchinson. With Tessie being the last to arrive, she still managed “to get the worm” by becoming the winner of the lottery. But in this story, the townspeople blindly follow a tradition that results in the winner becoming a sacrifice for a plentiful harvesting season. Tessie became the unfortunate winner of the lottery, exposing her true character of being a demanding, hypocritical, and self-centered individual.
Tessie is a demanding woman because she takes charge
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On several occasions she draws attention to herself and makes it apparent that she only cares about her own well being. By her arriving to the lottery late, not in the same dress code as the other townswomen, and by making loud remarks during the lottery, she draws attention to herself. After the first phase of the lottery was over, Tessie still managed to draw attention to herself by yelling out although she was actually trying her hardest for the attention to be diverted away from her family and for the drawing to be redone. When Bill drew the initial black dot, Mr. Summers asked, “You got any other households in the Hutchinsons?” (Jackson, 4) and Tessie responded, “There’s Don and Eva! Make them take their chance!” (Jackson, 4). Her self-centeredness was shown by her willingness to put her own children at risk of being killed in order to decrease her chances.
But in all honesty, Tessie’s actions were relatable in a sense. If anyone was placed in the same predicament, it is highly likely that that person would try their best to get out of that situation as well. Every individual probably would react in a different manner but the overall outcome of saving themselves would be a common ground. But with Tessie being a demanding individual put in this situation, she became hypocritical and self centered. Tessie’s reaction to becoming the unfortunate winner and her personality
Bill Hutchinson received the winning ticket and Tessie protest against the lottery. Then everyone in her family redraws and it is Tessie who drew the paper with the black dot on it. Then villagers grab stones, and point them at Tessie. Finally, Tessie says it’s not fair and is hit in the head with a stone. 2.
She does the lottery just like everyone else, and reacts to it just like everyone else. Towards the beginning of the story, where she is greeted by a late Tessie, she joked around with Tessie and was nice to her. Mrs.Delacroix became nervous when her husband went up to draw just like all the other women. However, when Bill Hutchinson was chosen, her attitude towards Tessie completely changed, “Be a good sport, Tessie,”. She became rude with her, and she seemed aggressive. It seems like she wanted Tessie to be quiet and to stop talking. This was shown very clearly in the movie. This is part of Mrs. Delacroix’s second side. Then once Tessie was chosen, she acted as if they never had any type of relationship, “Mrs.Delacroix selected a stone so large, she had to pick it up with both hands and turned to Mrs.Dunbar. “Come on,” she said “Hurry up.”. That is when humanity went out the window for Mrs.Delacroix, and when her true self came
In The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson, the people of the village are consumed by a tradition. Every year in the month of June, they conduct a lottery to determine who will be stoned. The unjustified killing of a human being is widely viewed as an iniquitous act. Although surrounding communities have ceased the tradition of the lottery, this society continues the tradition. The idea of not practicing the tradition has been brought up numerous times within the community but “the subject was allowed to fade off ” (351). The community was conscience of the tradition being unethical but because it was a part of their heritage and believed to determine the success of their harvest, no one would do anything about the lottery. Once she is picked from the lottery, Tessie Hutchinson notices that the people are not conducting the lottery fairly and decides to stand up against the tradition. It can be inferred that women were not considered equal to the males of the village. Tessie—a woman— had the courage to stand against the tradition. Tessie understood that not all traditions are good. A tradition can be so engraved into an individual that they forget its purpose. In the story...
When asked if there was anyone else in the household, Tessie claims, “There’s Don and Eva... Make them take their chance” (Jackson 5). By volunteering her daughters, that are married and thus draw with their one families, Tessie shows that she would rather have a family member be stoned to death than herself. She is also set out as a hypocrite because she does not complain when any other family is picking slips (if another family had picked the slip she would have stoned someone else to death), she only questions the lottery when her family is the one that has to choose. She cried out multiple times, “It isn’t fair, it isn’t right” (Jackson 8), questioning the fairness of the tradition after she is the one chosen to be stoned to death. Tessie finally sees outside of the bubble that everyone in the village is in. It is here that we see that violence is acceptable until it becomes
her husband to go and pick a piece of paper. When Tessie wins the lottery; she
The town's citizens are eager, gathering in the town square in order to take part in the yearly lottery. With the story focused around one particular family, the Hutchinsons, who are so anxious to get it all over with until they find that one of their members is to participate in the lottery's closing festivities, Tessie. Of course, unlike your typical lotteries, this is not one that you would want to win. The one chosen from the lottery is to undertake a cruel and unusual death by stoning at the hands of their fellow townsmen for the sake that it may bring a fruitful crop for the coming harvest season. Ironically, many of the towns people have suggested that the lottery be put to an end, but most find the idea unheard of being that they have lived in it's practice for most of their lives.
In Shirley Jackson’s "The Lottery," what appears to be an ordinary day in a small town takes an evil turn when a woman is stoned to death after "winning" the town lottery. The lottery in this story reflects an old tradition of sacrificing a scapegoat in order to encourage the growth of crops. But this story is not about the past, for through the actions of the town, Jackson shows us many of the social ills that exist in our own lives.
This simultaneously relieves some of the suspense regarding the result of the lottery, while also adding even more tension, as the audience still does not know Tessie Hutchinson’s fate.
Tessie Hutchinson was angry that her husband had gotten the lottery, so the family drew again. In the final draw, the crowd saw that Tessie had gotten the paper with the black dot. The instant the crowd knew who got the lottery, they began grabbing the stones the boys had piled up earlier. Formerly, Mr. Summers joined the crowd and said “let’s finish quickly” to be in time for noon dinner(Jackson, 7). At this instant, Mrs. Delacroix had “selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands” for the ritual(Jackson, 7). This sentence shows how terrible the lottery is and how extreme it can get. Without delay, Tessie is standing in the middle of the crowd when “a stone hit her on the side of the head” and that was the signal to begin the ritual(Jackson, 7). The lottery is just a cruel thing to the victim and their family who have to watch and be a part
Change seems to be closer than expected. Many of the other villages changed their traditions and got rid of the lottery. This sparks some controversy in the society. Some villagers strongly believed that it was time for the lottery to end. Others did not want to part with their cultural traditions, some even believing that the lottery brought good harvest. Unfortunately for Tessie Hutchinson, the traditions do not change in time to spare her life. The author’s description of the symbols in the short story help to reveal the layers of the society in which the lottery exists. Throughout the short story, The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson, the author’s depiction of the black box, Davy Hutchinson, the main character’s son, and the lottery itself help to convey the idea that fear of change can impede evolution in a
Winning vast amounts of money can make anyone slaphappy, but unfortunately this type of wager won’t be discussed in Shirley Jacksons “The Lottery.” Jackson catches the reader’s attention by describing a typical day by using words such as “blossoming, clear and sunny skies” to attract the reader into believing a calm and hopeful setting which eventually turns dark. In this short story Jackson tells a tale of a sinister and malevolent town in America that conforms to the treacherous acts of murder in order to keep their annual harvest tradition alive. Jackson exposes the monstrosity of people within this society in this chilling tale. She allows the reader’s to ponder and lead them to believe that the lottery is actually a good thing; till she implements foreshadowing, to hint at the dreadfulness behind the lottery and its meaning. My goal in this paper is to discuss why Jackson’s “The Lottery” is a portrayed as a horror story, and the importance the townspeople used to glorify ritualistic killings, to appease to an unseeable force in return of good harvest for the upcoming year.
In an agriculture-dominant village, the lottery is practiced as the annual tradition. The “fortunate” lottery winner will be stoned to death by the town after a few rounds of drawing lots. Such flabbergasted ritual is seen as a norm in that village and the villagers even feel excited over this cruel occasion due to the mob psychology of people. The villagers abandon their rationale in demonstrating violence towards the innocent “winner”. When Tessie draws the winner piece, everyone in the village straight up turns on her with stones and pebbles including Mrs. Delacroix, her
...tery because of its value to the culture. The uniformity in the villager’s beliefs against Tessie shows their commitment to the tradition of the lottery, as well as their closeness to one another. It is unclear if Tessie is the first to protest the lottery, or if others before her have. Regardless, the villagers will continue to partake in the lottery and believe it is right, perhaps until they become the victims. Tessie showed this same transition in the story, indicating the complexity of human behavior. Humans are completely shaped by socialization and traditions, and it is not until something threatens life that true concerns and attitudes may emerge.
She showed up late to the lottery which makes it seem like it is not important to her, she later shows she doesn’t take it seriously when she shoves her husband and tells him not to be nervous when selecting his card from the box. After everybody opens their card and it is revealed that her husband has open the one with the black dot, Tessie reacts in a very different way than before. “Tessie Hutchinson shouted to Mr. Summers. "You didn 't give him time enough to take any paper he wanted. I saw you. It wasn 't fair!"” ( Jackson) It now seems as if the lottery is a huge deal and she doesn’t want anything to do with the results of having her husband draw the card with the black dot. Tessie pushing her husband and her yelling about her husband being selected can be seen as Tessie disobeying the social order that is in the village. She does this by disrespecting her husband and then questioning the decision of Mr. Summers. (Capitalist Society in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. Comparative Literature) It is finally proven that she finds the lottery a big deal when she is speechless once the rest of her family show that they don’t have the black dot on their card during the drawing for the
Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson arrives late, having “cleanly forgotten what day it was” (411). While the town does not make a fuss over Tessie’s tardiness, several people make remarks, “in voices loud enough to be heard across the crowd” (411). Jackson makes the choice to have Tessie stand out from the crowd initially. This choice first shows Tessie’s motivation. Tessie was so caught up in her everyday household chores that she does not remember that on this one day of the year someone was going to be stoned to death at the lottery.