Tessie Hutchinson in The Lottery Essay

The Lottery is a short story that focuses on a small fictional town that observes a customary ritual referred to as 'the lottery'. The heads of the extended families drew slips in order to determine the family chosen for 'the lottery' in the first round and in the second one, they would choose the household. In this particular year the Bill Hutchinson family was chosen which meant that the second round would be skipped since they were a single household. The final round is intended to determine which member of the household will be chosen regardless of their age. In this case, Tessie Hutchinson is chosen after the drawing is done but according to tradition, she has to be stoned to death (Oehlschlaeger). Before her death, the author can bring out several traits about Tessie.

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Resistance is the first trait seen in Tessie when Bill - her husband - draws the slip that contained the black spot which means that their family had been chosen. At that point, she shouts at Mr. Summers who was officiating the lottery saying that he did not give her husband enough time to pick any slip of paper he wanted. "You didn't give him time enough to take any paper he wanted. I saw you. It wasn't fair," (Yarmove). At that point, her husband asks her to shut up while other town-dwellers encouraged her to be a good sportsman but that was not enough to stop Tessie's objections; "It wasn't fair. You didn't give him time enough to choose. Everybody saw that," (Yarmove).

Her protests, however, fall on deaf ears but her resistance is seen when she continues to appeal to the people around her saying, "Listen, everybody." The next step involved the opening of the paper slips in order to reveal the individual that was chosen. During that process, all other family members open their slips, but Tessie refuses to open hers because unlike the rest hers was marked. She was so resistant, Bill had to forcefully take the paper for her wife as ordered by Mr. Summers, "It's Tessie ... Show us her paper, Bill," (Yarmove). According to tradition, once the individual with the marked paper slip was identified, they were to be surrounded and stoned to death. When Tessie was identified and placed at the center of the cleared area, she continued to protest the event terming it unfair as a sign of her unending resistance, but unfortunately, she is hit with a stone.

Another trait of Tessie Hutchinson is tardiness - the quality of being late. One the day of the lottery, she arrives late at the designated venue where the lottery was held. When talking to Mrs. Delacroix, she indicated that she had forgotten which day that was and the entire time she thought was in the back stacking some wood (Yarmove). From the way she appears to have thrown the sweater over her shoulders, it was possible telling the truth. However, her husband was at the venue on time because he had to stand with the family through the lottery. It was, therefore, unlikely that he would have left the house without informing her about the lottery or mentioning it to her days before the actual date.

Her lateness is confirmed when it is indicated that she was late because she was busy washing the dishes. This is a chore which could have waited until the lottery was done. This makes one question whether or not Tessie was genuinely late or did this only emphasize the fact that she was tardy. It could be possible that she knew about the lottery, but her tardiness led her to find something to do because she was reluctant to leave and thus delaying her - the inner power to do as she pleased (Kosenko).

Another trait that is seen in Tessie is suppression. When Bill picks the slip in the first round, she protests to Mr. Summer who dismisses her claims of unfairness. When that does not work, she turns to the people standing there, but her husband asks her to shut up; ignoring her remarks - the same way Mr. Summers ignored her.

Later when a single individual has to be chosen from the family members, and they all have to open their slips, Tessie does not open hers. Therefore, her husband has to open her hand in order to obtain her slip forcefully. When he finally gets ahold of it, he looks at it and does not say anything. Bill apparently does not have any feelings towards his wife and it was also clear that he valued his life over hers.

Other minor traits that were revealed in the article like the fact that Tessie was outspoken when she shouts at Mr. Summer indicating that he did not give his husband enough time. She is also hypocritical when she suggests that she would stone anyone else, but when her family is chosen, she appears to protest that idea.

Works Cited

Kosenko, Peter. "A Marxist/Feminist Reading of Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery.'." Short Story Criticism: Excerpts from Criticism of the Works of Short Fiction Writers 9.

Oehlschlaeger, Fritz. "The Stoning of Mistress Hutchinson: Meaning of Context in 'The Lottery'." Essays in Literature 2 (1988): 259.

Yarmove, Jay A. "Jackson's the Lottery." The Explicator 52.4 (1994): 242-245.