This paper analyzes Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery," focusing on the character of Tessie Hutchinson as both victim and unconscious rebel within a rigidly patriarchal village society. Drawing heavily on Peter Kosenko's Marxist-feminist reading, the paper examines how Tessie's seemingly minor social transgressions — her late arrival, her commanding tone toward her husband, and her challenge to the lottery's gender rules — mark her as a scapegoat. The analysis argues that the lottery functions as an ideological mechanism that redirects villagers' dissatisfaction with their social order into violence against those who unconsciously resist it.
"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson is a story of a senseless, superstitious, and archaic ritual still practiced yearly in many villages, beginning at ten o'clock on the morning of June 27th. Jackson opens by describing how the people of a village gather in the town square on a clear and sunny morning, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day, flowers blossoming profusely, and the grass richly green. This first sentence paints such a quaint picture that it leads the reader to believe the tale will be filled with joy and luck. The author notes that in some towns the lottery took two days because of the large population, but this village had only about three hundred people, so the whole lottery took less than two hours — "so it could begin at ten o'clock in the morning and still be through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner." It sounds as though this is a kind of yearly gathering in which some type of prize is awarded, for everyone gathers so hurriedly and matter-of-factly — none more so than Tessie Hutchinson.
Mrs. Hutchinson, with her sweater thrown over her shoulders, hurries along the path to the square and takes a place at the back of the crowd, saying to Mrs. Delacroix that she had "Clean forgot what day it was . . . Thought my old man was out back stacking wood 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." Both women laugh softly, as if they are waiting for the doors to open at a department-store sale. As Mrs. Hutchinson dries her hands on her apron, Mrs. Delacroix assures her she made it in time: "They're still talking away up there."
One imagines Mrs. Hutchinson as a round, plump farm woman accustomed to hard labor and hard times — one who likely removes her apron only at bedtime and for church. She probably trots wherever she goes, just as she trotted up the path to the town square, always in a hurry, never enough hours in the day. When Tessie spots her husband Bill, she makes her way through the crowd to stand beside him and their children. As people part to let her through, someone calls out, "Here comes your Missus, Hutchinson — Bill, she made it after all." When she reaches her husband, Mr. Summers says cheerfully, "Thought we were going to have to get on without you, Tessie," to which she replies, "Wouldn't have me leave m'dishes in the sink, now, would you, Joe."
Peter Kosenko, writing in the Spring 1985 issue of New Orleans Review, observes that "None of the men . . . thinks of addressing Tessie first, since she 'belongs' to Bill. Most women in the village take this patriarchal definition of their role for granted," yet Tessie is the "only one who rebels against male domination, although only unconsciously." Kosenko further argues that the fact Tessie finished washing the dishes before coming to the lottery reflects the villagers' unconscious belief that "their commitment to a work ethic will grant them some magical immunity from selection."
"Lottery channels dissatisfaction into scapegoat violence"
"Village power consolidated exclusively in male hands"
"Villagers' rebellion redirected into anger at victims"
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