How Is Tessie Hutchinson A Scapegoat In The Lottery

In the 1948 short story, The Lottery written by Shirley Jackson, the average citizens of the traditional village gathered in the town square to take part in the yearly “lottery.” To insure a great harvest, the citizens of the village drew slips of paper from the black, wooden box to accompany Tessie Hutchinson’s blood shed on the ground after her stoning from the normal citizens in the village on the gloom June 27th. Tessie Hutchinson was murdered by her community as she became the scapegoat for the harvest to bear plenty, but this is not the ending a reader was expecting. As the short story continued on, the citizens’ actions hinted at the twisted conclusion to display how the nature of scapegoatism, occurs “when an individual or group selects

Every person within the village seemed to have a reason to be involved in the traditional scapgoatism, including the scapegoat herself, Tessie Hutchinson. After being chosen as the dreaded lottery winner, Tessie Hutchinson’s envy caused her to willing sacrifice her own daughter and son-in-law in place of herself as she yelled “make them take their chance!” disregarding they were her relatives and had their own family. As Ghadiali H. N. of Stafford stated in ‘The process of Scapegoating.’ The Midland Journal of Psychotherapy, No. 1, “Scapegoating is a frequently occurring social phenomenon which takes place in natural groups, therapeutic groups, families, and in society at large,” and Mrs. Hutchinson displayed the phenomenon as she begged for her own

After Mr. Adams conversed to Old Man Warner about “that over in the north village they’re talking of giving up the lottery,” the older man responded how the lottery was needed for a great harvest. Instead of noticing how the lottery was outdated, Old Man Warner dismissed how a person among the gathered group is drawing their death slip in hopes of ensuring a grand harvest for those who remain in the village, however he encourage this ritual calling those villages who have ended the brutal ritual a “pack of young fools.” The yearly lottery numbed Old Man Warner’s emotions towards his fellow members in the village. As Nancy was called to draw by Mr. Summers, her school friends whispered among themselves hoping it they would not have to stone their friend they just finished the school with, but Old Man Warner responded with how “people aren’t the way they used to be.” Warner clearly stated his response to the young girls to call younger people of the village and surrounding villages undeserving of being chosen to be the scapegoat for the village’s harvest. When Old Man Warner was younger, it can be inferred it was a honor to be chosen, but as generations went on, they understood the wrong in the lottery, as to why some villages ceased the annual drawing, while others continued to partake in the