A society is formed when a group of people come together and share certain interests and ideas. In such interactions, the good and the bad among each individual are influenced, and the society more or less tends to think in a specific way. The society begins to think of certain ideas as good and evil, and some as necessary. But these ideas do not always have to be right. What the society thinks as right does not necessarily have to be morally correct. It could often be completely sinister or evil. In “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson uses the change in character of the protagonist, Tessie Hutchinson, to portray the evil that lies within the society.
Nobody questions the righteousness of the lottery, until Tessie, and only when she gets picked. Initially, Tessie is in a very calm mood and is excited to gather for the lottery. While talking to her friend Mrs. Delacroix, Tessie says “Clean forgot what day it was and they both laughed” (Jackson 234). Tessie in this manner represents the townsfolk who simply follow the traditions of the Lottery because they have been doing it for years. At this point, she seems to lack the moral to question about the righteousness of the lottery or even why they carry out the lottery. But once the Hutchinsons get picked, Tessie character change from that of a casual bystander to a rather rebellious or questioning character. She looks for ways to avoid being picked for the lottery. She tells Mr. Summers that he did not give Bill “enough time to take the paper he wanted” (Jackson 236). Gradually, as her family’s name is picked, she turns more and more concerned. Tessie says “It isn’t fair” (Jackson 236). Ironically, the same Tessie who wanted her husband to pick a piece of paper to determine the family that gets picked now tries to get away from it. The righteousness only comes into play when she gets picked.
The society lacks relationship bonds and is also very selfish. While trying to minimize her chances of being picked by the Lottery, she shamelessly points to her own daughter Eva and son in law Don and tells Mr. Summers to “make them take their chance” (Jackson 236). Tessie represents the transparent community that’s has turned selfish: she opts to include her own daughter and her son in law, rather than being picked and stoned by the lottery. The only thing she cares about now is to not die by getting picked and she appears to be willing to do anything to avoid it, even to sacrifice her own daughter. This Tessie, who tries to protest against the Lottery, is in complete contrast, with the Tessie, that was laughing around prior to the lottery: “Wouldn’t leave m’ dishes in the sink, now would you, Joe and soft laughter ran through the crowd of people” (Jackson 235). This change in character, brought by getting picked at the Lottery, is unique to Tessie alone. The change only happens when she gets picked. This reflects on the evilness of the society. Each individual in the story only cares about himself/herself. Tessie tries to convince other people to swing away from the lottery, as Bill starts to pick out papers to decide who in his family would get stoned. She tells people around her “Listen, everybody” (Jackson 237). But, at this point, nobody listens to Tessie: primarily because they did not get picked. Thus, the society has become more individualistic, and lacks the moral support between the members. Nobody in the story listens to Tessie as Mr. Summers asks “Ready Bill?” completely ignoring Tessie (Jackson 237). In the story, no one is bothered as they realize, it was only Tessie who got picked, not themselves.
The villagers themselves also do not know, except for that it has been a tradition, why they carry out the lottery. Bill, Tessie’s husband, “forced the slip of paper” out from Tessie’s hands (Jackson 237). She does not show it herself as she realizes it’s her death mark. She does not reply to the call from Mr. Summers: “Tessie” (Jackson 237). Ironically, the moment she realizes the lottery is unfair is actually her death moment too. However, the reaction of the others to Tessie’s winning of the death lottery is that of a normal and very usual event. After Tessie gets picked in the lottery, Mr. Summers announces, “All right, folks. Let’s finish quickly” (Jackson 237). Their only concern at this point seems to be to finish the lottery quickly. They do not even seem to think about if they should kill Tessie or why they should kill her. But they still realize they have to stone Tessie because it has been a tradition. Though the readers understand the innate evilness of the lottery, the characters in the story, other than Tessie, do not even remotely sense the cruelness of the act; they have been doing the tradition of the lottery for many years that now it seems just as a tradition to them and nothing more.
Jackson concludes her story with a powerful ending revealing a changed Tessie and an unchanged society. She clearly depicts the helplessness of Tessie, when Tessie says “it isn’t right”, referring to the lottery (Jackson 238). Tessie has tried all she could at this point to either redo the lottery or escape from the lottery. However there is no result as the villagers crowd around her in a circle getting ready to throw stones at her. At the same time, Jackson also reveals the deceased society as they move “onto Tessie” to kill her (Jackson 238). The society does not realize the cruelty they are showing and does not understand that somebody else would have the same scenario next year. As each person around Tessie gets a stone, they do not understand that the stones will hit them some day as well.
Through “The Lottery”, Jackson tells the readers the message of the potential darkness that lies within the society. In “The Lottery”, any person regardless of age or sex had the chance of getting killed. Jackson opts to warn the readers of such a scary scenario, in which anybody could be threatened by the evilness that resides within the society. Jackson sends a thoughtful warning for the readers through the lottery: Today it might Tessie, but tomorrow it might be anyone
Sources:
Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery”. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Edgar V.Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. 5th edition. New Jersey: Prentice, 2006. 233-238
