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She is right in rebelling against her neighbors. The lottery is not fair, and even if it is traditional, it is cruel and frightening.
Tessie is also fearful and desperate, because she does not want to die. Jackson shows her fear and her desperation when she writes, "I think we ought to start over,' Mrs. Hutchinson said, as quietly as she could. 'I tell you it wasn't fair. You didn't give him time enough to choose. Everybody saw that'" (Jackson). She is grasping at straws, trying to make sure the town does the lottery over and someone else picks the fateful slip of papers. She is afraid, just as anyone would be. Jackson uses the story and this character to show fear and violence as it is in our society. It is very easy for one person to turn on another, even when they have lived their whole lives together. Even her own husband tells her to "shut up" when she protests too much. Tessie is frightened, but she also represents the fear that lives in all of us - because we know that our neighbors and our friends could turn on us in a second if it meant their own survival. The reader empathizes with her, and does not want her to die, either. This story raises many questions. Why does Tessie have to die? What was the original purpose of the lottery, and why has such a cruel practice survived? Who will take care of Tessie's children? The story is disturbing for many reasons. So is Tessie's death. Being stoned to death by relieved neighbors seems unusually cruel and nasty. The neighbors are very eager to get it done, too. Jackson notes, "Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands and turned to Mrs. Dunbar. 'Come on,' she said. 'Hurry up'" (Jackson). It is no wonder Tessie is frightened. She knows her friends are all too eager to kill her, and the story is all the more chilling because of that.
References
Jackson, Shirley. "The Lottery." Murry Bergtraum High School. 1 Feb. 1998. 16 Sept. 2005. http://mbhs.bergtraum.k12.ny.us/cybereng/shorts/lotry.html
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