Sentencing Women In The Lottery Essay

Disgracing Women in “The Lottery”

What do people think when they hear the word, “lottery?” Do you think about money, power, sacrifice? For most people its winning a lot of money or a lot of power, but for people in the early 1900’s it was far different. In the story the “Lottery”, a lottery was a ceremony where they picked a person to be sacrificed. The men were usually the ones who picked because the women were not treated equally. Women couldn’t pick for their families during the lottery, they were talked down to by men and not allowed to speak their minds, and they were pitied and made to feel less dominant than the males.

During the tradition of the picking of the lottery, there were certain rules that needed to be followed. The men of the household would pick a piece of paper out of the box and then after everyone had drawn then they would see which man had the dot. The man with the dot in his family then had to put pieces in the box again and draw and the member of the family who drew the dot had to be sacrificed. The only way that the woman would be able to draw is if her husband was deceased or not able to be there and if she had a son who was not sixteen years old. Women were not known for being the

powerful one in the house it was the husband who was in charge. The husband would tell the children in the wife what to do and when to do it.
In the “Lottery”, the husbands and the sons didn’t obey and respect the women.

For example, Bobby Martin didn’t listen to his mother when she called for him to stop playing but he just laughed and ran away, but when his dad said something to him he ran over and stood by him. When Tessie spoke up after her family was chosen and said that it was, “Unfair” (Jackson) and her husband said to her “Shut up, Tessie” (Jackson), and then he shoved her back into the crowd of people. Tessie seemed to be made fun of by not only the women in the crowd when she was late but she was also talked about by the others. Other woman in the village were looked down to has if they weren’t strong enough to handle themselves alone. The were made to feel less dominant to any

male.
Mrs. Dunbar’s husband had broken his leg and was not allowed to pick for his family so Mrs. Dunbar had to pick during the lottery. Mr. Summers had said, “Don’t you have a grown boy that can pick for you, Janey?”( Jackson) He was saying that she shouldn’t be made to pick and that her son should pick for her because she is the woman of the household and those aren’t her responsibilities. When the Hutchinson’s family had to draw for which member would be sacrificed there was girls in the crowd that said that they really hoped that Nancy wasn’t picked because she was the daughter. At the end of the story when Tessie was getting stoned to death even her husband and kids were throwing stones at her. She was unable to protect herself and she felt like she was all alone.
The story the “Lottery” was not written to be equal to woman. Woman were not treated the same in the 1950’s. In this story women weren’t allowed to pick for their families, express what they thought, or they couldn’t be independent without being belittled. Has things changed in present day the way that women are treated?