Tessie's Eagerness In The Lottery

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Standing Out On a beautiful summer day, villagers begin filing into the town square to hold a lottery. This lottery though is not your typical lottery; instead of the winner receiving a large sum of money, this “winner” is stoned to death as a sacrifice for a bountiful harvest. In “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, one of the villagers, Tessie Hutchinson, immediately stands out when she arrives late and admits that she had forgotten what day it was. This breach in conduct seems inappropriate and even unforgivable to the other inhabitants of the town; everyone comes to the lottery, and everyone comes on time. Already marked as one who is not entirely part of the group, Tessie’s actions during the lottery display her eagerness, desperation, and …show more content…

Once again, Tessie draws attention to herself when she speaks up about the supposed unfairness of the drawing. The tradition of the lottery appears so natural and inevitable to the people of the town that they cannot imagine protest. Tessie’s eagerness to see the lottery through is only paralleled by her desperation to get out of it once it turns out her life on the line. Work Cited Coulthard, A. R. “Jackson’s ‘The Lottery’.” Explicator 48.3 (1990): 226. Academic Search Premier. Web. 31 Mar. 20115. Friedman, Lenemaja. “The Short Stories.” Shirley Jackson. Twayne Publishers, 1975. 63-67. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Jenny Cromie. Vol 39. Detroit: Gale, 2000. Short Story Criticism Online. Wed 32 Mar. 2015. Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery.” Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts and Robert Zweig. 10th ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2012. 140-45. Print. Whittier, Gayle. “’The Lottery’ As Misogynist Parable” Women’s Studies 18.4 (1991):353. Academic Search Premier. Web 31 Mar. 2015 Yarmove, Jay A. “Jackson’s The Lottery.” Explicator 52.4 (1994):242. Academic Search Premier. Web 31 Mar.

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