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Analysis Of Tessie In Shirley Jackson's Short Story 'The Lottery'

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Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery” uses Tessie as a symbol about individuals getting shunned from the community for speaking out against societal traditions. For example, when Mr. Summers is speaking to the villagers he states, “Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box.”(26) This explains how the villagers do not want to change anything from their tradition like the black box. This connects back to how Tessie symbolizes individuals who speak out for their community because she did not agree about changing anything from the black box. This supports the theme of getting shunned when challenging traditions because when a new idea is presented everyone is against it. Another example is when Tessie gets shunned Jackson states “Suddenly, Tessie Hutchinson shouted to Mr. Summers, “You didn’t give him time enough to take enough to take any paper he wanted. …show more content…

I saw you, Tessie, “Bill Hutchinson said.”(31) This illustrates how the community shuts Tessie out as an individual who is speaking out against society 's rituals like in the lottery like in the lottery no one wanted to change the traditions of the

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In Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," Mrs. Delacroix conveys the duality of human nature through abruptly betraying Tessie when she is chosen to be sacrificed. For example, before the lottery, Tessie talks with Mrs. Delacroix then "Tapped Mrs. Delcaroix on the arm as a farewell and made her way through the crowd" (Jackson 2). By tapping Mrs. Delacroix on the arm as 'a farewell,' Tessie wishes her luck and believes that Mrs. Delacroix is her friend. The friendly nature between the two women shows Mrs. Delacroix's righteous and kind side to her personality.

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The text states “Suddenly, Tessie Hutchinson shouted to Mr. Summers” (Jackson 45). This is significant because Tessie is standing up for what she believes in by crying out what she thinks about the situation with the lottery. She doesn’t think that it was fair for Bill to get picked. This connects to my overall thesis because she is standing up for what she believes in because nobody else will so she spoke

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“The Lottery” Interpretive Essay “The Lottery”, a short story by Shirley Jackson, is about a lottery that takes place in a small village. The story starts of with the whole town gathering in the town square, where Mr. Summers, the official, holds the lottery. After that, every family draws out of an old black box, and a certain family gets picked. Out of the certain family, one person gets picked as the unlucky “winner” of the lottery. In this short story, after the Hutchinson family gets drawn, Tessie Hutchinson is declared “winner” of the lottery.

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In The Lottery, Tessie has fear for her life and that causes her to betray her culture by being against her tradition. In the start, Tessie supports the tradition of the Lottery but as soon as she realizes that she was the one who got the paper with the black spot, she starts saying “I think we ought to start over, I tell you it wasn’t fair” (Jackson). This act shows that when Tessie finds out that she was going to be stoned, she says that the tradition is not right. The fear of being stoned affects Tessie’s opinion about the tradition and causes her to betray her culture. If someone else had gotten the paper with the black spot, Tessie would have still supported the tradition but the dread of losing her own life changed her mind.

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Although many who read Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” believe it to be about a crazy town viciously slaughtering an innocent woman for the ritualized sacrifice to bring them a feastful harvest of corn, it very clearly demonstrates Jackson’s hope to educate readers of the horrors of society’s blind following using social conformity, tradition, and general acceptance. The story starts at around 10 o’clock a.m. on June 27, and children are stacking rocks. The whole town gathers around and picks one piece of paper per family, out of an old black box.

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The extreme tradition in Shirley Jackson's, "The Lottery," produces no positive difference, but rather only a negative difference. The traditional belief upheld by the agrarian village in Jackson's story is human sacrifice, which aims at satisfying their gods so that they may have a copious harvest. When the lottery session determined that Tessie Hutchinson won the lottery, she said in response, "it isn't fair." (Reading Literature and Writing Argument) Tessie believed prior to winning the lottery that she was going to lose; however, she became a victim of her overconfidence.

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Another quote to suggest the crowd grew nervous was when Mr. Adams was called upon, “They grinned at one another humorlessly and nervously”. She described what the characters were doing and not what their thoughts or intentions were. Shirley Jackson intensified the feeling when Tessie hysterically protested Bill’s “winning” selection, by withholding information until the last possible second, she builds the story’s suspense and creates a shocking, powerful conclusion. In conclusion, The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson builds up suspense by foreshadowing the horrible moment through the children who felt uneasy and collected rocks, creating a character that stands out from the crowd, Tessie Hutchinson, the person who saved her husband but could not save herself. More importantly, withholding the true nature of the story until the end, leading to the tragic death of Tessie

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The Lottery In the short story “The Lottery”by Shirley Jackson, the characters of the story all have mixed emotions about this lottery. The character, Tessie Hutchinson, her emotions about this lottery is that she thinks it is unfair. Mrs. Hutchinson thinks the lottery is unfair because they didn't give her family enough time to pick a slip. But i think it was fair because everyone takes their own time.

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When the twelve year old Nancy “[goes] forward switching her skirt, [taking] a slip daintily from the box,” the audience is struck by her innocence, making the subsequent death of her mother via the lottery outcome even more terrible and tragic. A still more effective example of Jackson’s appeals to pathos occurs at the end of the story, where “someone [gives] little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles” to join the crowd in stoning his mother. This moment is incredibly poignant and elevates the disgust and pity that the audience feels as the nature of the lottery is revealed. Little Davy is too young understand what is happening, and it is reasonable to assume that the rest of the characters have long since lost touch with the purpose of the lottery, as the only explanation the audience is given for its continuation is Warner’s statement that “there’s always been a lottery.” This remarkably insufficient excuse in support of such a heinous crime secures the sympathy of the audience towards not only Tessie’s plight but also Jackson’s argument.

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She realizes that this is an unpleasurable and outdated tradition and should be forgotten only because she got chosen. However, if her family’s name wasn’t drawn, she would have blindly followed the ritual, thrilled to have escaped a gruesome, sacrificial death. As a reader it is easy to empathize for Tessie since she or others don’t have a voice in their community or are even able to look at the bigger picture and see that the lottery is unnecessary. Not only does the dramatic irony of the lottery allow the reader to understand Tessie’s view, it creates a similar feeling towards Bill Hutchinson. For example, “Bill Hutchinson went over to his wife and forced the slip of paper out of her hand.

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