Lottery by Shirley Jackson. Specifically

¶ … Lottery by Shirley Jackson. Specifically it will contain a character analysis of Tessie Hutchinson. Tessie Hutchinson is the victim in this short story, and like any condemned person, she does not want to die.

Tessie Hutchinson is chosen in "the lottery" to be stoned to death by the villagers. Jackson writes, "People began to look around to see the Hutchinsons. Bill Hutchinson was standing quiet, staring down at the paper in his hand" (Jackson). There is no reason given for the lottery, just that it happens every year. Tessie is late to the drawing, and makes a joke of it with her friend. She says, "Thought my old man was out back stacking wood,' Mrs. Hutchinson went on, 'and then I looked out the window and the kids was gone, and then I remembered it was the twenty-seventh and came a-running'" (Jackson). She is likable and neighborly, and the reader immediately begins to like her. Tessie laughs and jokes throughout the drawing, until the end. However, Tessie is not laughing when she sees it is her name picked to "win" the lottery.

Tessie is a rebellious character after she finds out her fate. She reacts as most people would who found out they were going to be murdered by their neighbors. She rebels for an instant just before she picks her own paper. Jackson says, "She hesitated for a minute, looking around defiantly, and then set her lips and went up to the box. She snatched a paper out and held it behind her" (Jackson). The reader feels her fear, but also her defiance. It is almost as if she is defying death and defying the odds of her being chosen as the victim in the lottery. She is trying to keep up appearances so she does not seem afraid, but everyone knows she is afraid, including the reader. It is clear that the men run things in this town, and Tessie is rebelling against male authority when she makes her choice and acts like a rebel. Jackson makes her death even more poignant because the reader has come to like Tessie and hope she does not die. Jackson writes, "Tessie Hutchinson was in the center of a cleared space by now, and she held her hands out desperately as the villagers moved in on her. 'It isn't fair,' she said. A stone hit her on the side of the head" (Jackson). 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.