Tessie In The Lottery

“Every action has equal and opposite reactions. This is law of the universe and spares none. Wrong done and injustice inflicted is paid back in the same coin. No one has escaped justice of the universe. It is only a matter of time” (Anil Sinha). Karma is a force that shouldn’t be tested; no matter who it is or where they are, it will always be there when fate is ready. Even if these people try to conceal their true emotions, they will pay the price. Normally, the price will be as extreme as the action that has been done; maybe even death. Likewise, within Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” Tessie acts as an admirable, hard working mom; however, her sincere character is later exposed as a fearful, hypocritical, unheroic woman which reveals her

Tessie’s entire act in the beginning of the story is proven to be fake once she offers her children to go into the lottery. This is shown when she hollers in front of everyone, “‘There’s Don and Eva,’ … ‘Make them take their chance!’” (6) By making these kids take their chance in the lottery, the reader can see she is sacrificing her own kids out of greed. She does this with the intention of making her chance of getting chosen minimal. This action shows that her entire character transitions to a cowardly adult who clearly thinks more of herself then her own children. Any other guardian would choose to spare their children’s lives and offer themselves as a way to keep them alive. Instead, she does what it takes to help herself because of her desire to not win the lottery. At this point, it can be said that Tessie Hutchinson is not who she appears, but the exact

Her punishment is revealed the end of the story when the climax is at its highest; the result of who won the lottery. Everyone in the Hutchinson family chose a slip of paper from the black box, they open it and see Tessie is the one with the black dot paper. This black dot indicates that Tessie is the winner of the lottery. She then claims that “It wasn’t fair!” (6) and that she shouldn’t have to be the one chosen. This shows that she is trying to change the rules to benefit herself now that she knows that she is the chosen one. At first, the reader doesn’t see why it’s so bad to be chosen because their thinking is of a modern day lottery, when the winner will receive a huge cash prize, but not in this case. It is later revealed that the “winner” of the lottery will be stoned to death by everyone in the town. This can connect to the beginning of the story, when the children are collecting rocks and playing with them. The reader doesn’t see that it is foreshadowing until the ending of the story, when Tessie is slaughtered by the town members. In fact, this is related to karma and how wrongdoing will result in payback. Her karma in this case is the penalty of being chosen for the lottery; the consequence of her actions. The ending puts an effect on the reader because it can be seen why she was stoned, due to her greediness, and selfishness, that results in her