The Lottery Character Analysis

800 Words2 Pages

It’s July 27th and everybody from a small community of around 300 people have gathered for its annual lottery. The leader of the community Mr. Summers leads the lottery. After going over the rules he has each of the head of households come and select a small folded white card from the inside of a box. These heads of the households include the fathers of the families, except in two cases where the father is deceased which leads to the oldest son being the head of the household, and a wife being the lottery participant because of her husband’s broken leg. After everyone has selected their cards Mr. Summers instructs them to open their cards. All of the cards are blank except one with a large black dot. Bill Hutchinson was the man who had the …show more content…

Summers as to why she is late, “"Thought we were going to have to get on without you, Tessie." Mrs. Hutchinson said. grinning, "Wouldn 't have me leave m 'dishes in the sink, now, would you. Joe?," and soft laughter ran through the crowd.”(Jackson) Even during the lottery selection she seems happy and not the slightest bit concerned with the proceedings of the lottery. Her showing these types of moods during the lottery show her support the lottery and proves that she has no problems with conducting the lottery. It is only after her husband is selected that she is not supportive of the lottery. This original support of the lottery leaves her has a major part of the blame for the action of the …show more content…

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

Show More
Related

  • Dialectical Journal For The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

    553 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Symbolic References in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

    1473 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, Jackson illustrates an average agricultural town that usually wouldn’t be given a second thought, but in this case the innocent appearance is holding a dark secret. Every year in the summer an annual tradition is held known as the lottery. The lottery is held in the small town in order to have a bountiful harvest. All the towns’ people gather and each head of the families must reach into an old black box to grab a white slip of paper. The lottery is then narrowed down to one family once all the white slips of paper are opened. The individual who is possession of a white slip of paper with a black dot has their family each reach into the box and grab a slip of paper of their own. Unfortunately the family member who has the slip of paper with the black dot is sacrificed in order to receive a good season of crops.

    Read More

  • analysis the lottery

    772 Words  | 2 Pages

    Shirley Jackson wrote many books in her life, but she was well known by people for her story “The Lottery” (Hicks). “The Lottery” was published on June 28, 1948, in the New Yorker magazine (Schilb). The story sets in the morning of June 27th in a small town. The townspeople gather in the square to conduct their annual tradition, the Lottery. The winner of the lottery will stoned to death by the society. Although there is no main character in the story, the story develops within other important elements. There are some important elements of the story that develop the theme of the story: narrator and its point of view, symbolism, and main conflict. The story “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, argues practicing a tradition without understanding the meaning of the practice is meaningless and dangerous.

    Read More

  • Duality Of Human Nature In The Lottery

    701 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • The Dangers Of Tradition In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

    846 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Thyness And Nervousness In The Lottery, By Shirley Jackson

    1447 Words  | 3 Pages

    While everyone else seems to be anxious about the day, Tessie seems rather enthusiastic. Tessie even exclaims that she “remembered it was the twenty-seventh and came a-running '” (Jackson 373). She seems to see the lottery as “one great lark” and urges her husband to go pick a paper when his name is called (Yarmove 1). For a moment, one can assume that the nervousness in the story is just because everyone wants to win due to Tessie’s excitement, as she seems to be a main character, and is so enthusiastic about the day while to others, you can see that this is not something that they really wanted to take place in in the first place. There are a few members of the town who seem to want nothing to do with the lottery; one of those being Janey, whose husband is unable to participate due to a broken leg (Jackson 373). Once the event is over, though, one can come to the conclusion that she has recently lost a son to the lottery. As Nebeker notes, Mr. Summer’s asked if she had a grown son to draw for her, even though everyone knew that she didn’t, which could imply that she did at one time have a son who would have been able to draw for her, but he was last year’s victim (4); Nebeker notes that this also explains the “unusual encouragement” Janey receives (4). This theory could lead one to believe that Mr. Dunbar’s broken leg may have been an intentional way of avoiding the

    Read More

  • The Use of Symbolism in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

    1179 Words  | 3 Pages

    her husband to go and pick a piece of paper. When Tessie wins the lottery; she

    Read More

  • An Analysis of The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson

    390 Words  | 1 Pages

    In "The Lottery," by Shirley Jackson, there are a series of traditions the story revolves around. The characters in the story don't seem to follow their traditions anymore. The story begins by explaining how the lottery works. The lottery takes place in many other towns. In this town it takes place on June 27 of every year. Everyone within town would gather at the town square, no matter what age. The black box is brought out and each head of the household pulls a small paper out of it. Only one of the papers will not be blank, it will have a black-penciled spot that is put on by the owner of the coal company. The black spot will send someone, from the family who chose it, to death. This is decided by a draw. The family member who pulls out the spotted paper will be stoned to death. After a long period of time, people forget the traditions by slowly disregarding as the years pass.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Violence In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

    514 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Tessie Hutchinson's Character In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

    307 Words  | 1 Pages

    Based on the choices of Mr. Summers, it seems clear that the town continues to participate in the lottery year after year because it is a tradition that they up hold year after year. Tessie Hutchinson chooses to think that the lottery is unfair and wrong. She is described as being unfair and feels like the lottery isn't right. The character is heavily influenced by the fact that she is chose the slip with the black dot in the lottery, which is revealed when Bill Hutchinson forces the slip of paper out of her hand. The reason Tessie may feel compelled to feel the lottery is wrong is before she made them redo the lottery it was her husband who chose the black dotted paper. The reaction to this was to force everyone in her family to redo the lottery.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Time And Place In Everyday Use By Alice Walker

    875 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • The Lottery and Human Behavior

    1674 Words  | 4 Pages

    Tessie is different from the other villagers, almost defiant. This quality is apparent when she arrives late to the event. Being consumed in simple household chores, like the dishes, she has completely forgotten about the lottery until she notices her entire family is gone. Her late arrival is strange because the tradition of the lottery is of great importance to the village’s culture. Aside from Tessie, all the other people have arrived early and calmly waited for the lottery to begin. Her late arrival not only separates her from the other villagers, but catches everyone’s attention as she proceeds to hurry through the crowd to find her family. After her arrival, Tessie immediately begins to make jokes about her absence. She seems to do this ...

    Read More

  • Why Do People Never Change In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

    585 Words  | 2 Pages

    Tess Hutchinson’s attitude at the beginning of the story is very nonchalant. You can tell that she doesn’t care about the lottery because, she shows up late and tells Mrs. Delacroix, “Clean forgot what day it was.” Then, she goes on explaining to Mrs. Delacroix how her children and husband had left already and then she finally realized what day it was. So you can tell from Tess’s attitude that she really doesn’t want to be there because she’s so calm and careless about the whole event.

    Read More

  • The Lottery Character Analysis Essay

    1131 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Lottery By Shirley Jackson Character Analysis

    527 Words  | 2 Pages

    Could winning the lottery really be breathe taking? In the story The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, breathe taking would be a perfect description of the final events. On June 27th in a small town village, warm from the summer’s sun. There were men, women, boys, and girls who were heading to the town center for this year’s Lottery. During the introduction many characters were introduced however, two characters in particular stood out the most throughout the story, and there names are Mr. Summers and Mrs. Hutchinson.

    Read More

More about The Lottery Character Analysis

Open Document