Topic > Character Analysis of Tessie Hutchinson: Individual Vulnerability

Index Character Analysis of Tessie Hutchinson within the storyHow did the community make Tessie a vulnerable person?ConclusionThe Lottery is a story written by Shirley Jackson that focuses on, as she suggests the name, on the lottery. The twist in the story is that the individual selected as the winner is sentenced to death. In Shirley Jackson's Lottery, the author explores many different themes such as scapegoating, mob mentality, tradition, and reliance on chance. One of the central themes of the story is how an individual might be vulnerable to persecution by a group of individuals. This theme in the story is explored primarily through the character analysis of Tessie Hutchinson and also subtly through the Watson and Dunbar families. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Character Analysis of Tessie Hutchinson within the Story Tessie Hutchinson quickly stands out from the crowd when she arrives late; she has a kind of menacing aura about her. He admits that he has forgotten what day it is, that he "forgot what day it was." Town deals with his tardiness with lighthearted banter, but it is implied that it was talked about "in voices loud enough to be heard through the crowd". And on a day when the entire community's attention is focused on the lottery, this forgetfulness seems inappropriate. Tess Hutchinson has already been marked as someone who is happy to participate in the lottery, but isn't as keen on all the traditions that the lottery seems to reinforce. This refusal to conform to all the different traditions sets her apart, almost like an outcast, and supports the central theme of the idea; especially when she starts to object that Bill "didn't [have] enough time to get all the documents he wanted" and that "it wasn't fair" (which she often repeats). Aside from breaking the rules, he also stands out because he seems very excited about entering the lottery; while the other women wait and watch as their husbands draw, Tessie calls Bill forward, saying, "Stand up, Bill." The narrator also notes early in the story how eerie and upsetting the atmosphere really is, as if people have accepted that someone they know could die. "[the men] stood together, away from the pile of stones in the corner, and their jokes were quiet, and they smiled rather than laughed." Compared to the solemn atmosphere, Tess Hutchinson seems almost lively. The annual lottery breaks down bonds layer by layer within the community only to rebuild them again. During the initial lottery drawing, each family is pitted against each other. The bond that the community has dissolves into smaller bonds, that is, each family is a unit. This breakdown can be seen when Tessie Hutchinson protests, 'You [Mr. Summers] didn't give him enough time to get the paper he wanted. I saw you. It wasn't right!'. She is willing to sacrifice someone else's family if her family is safe. After the initial draw, the community regroups, isolating the chosen family; as evidenced by the community that came together to let her know that they “all took the same chance.” The second lottery draw; where everyone takes out their own sheet of paper, it shows us how the family that was considered a unit is now broken down into a smaller unit; the individual family member is now left to his own devices. Tessie Hutchinson even goes so far as to try to get her daughter and father-in-law to choose too, shouting “Let him take his chance!”, knowing that daughters draw with their husbands' families. Instead of trying to protecthis daughter, Tessie acts as an individual to increase her chances of not being chosen for the lottery. Later, we realize that Tessie Hutchinson is the lottery winner; Here we can see how her family reassimilated to the rest of the community to form a great bond while isolating Tessie. Tessie is removed from the group and the town community, including her family, gathers together, stoning her to death. How did the community make Tessie a vulnerable person? The community stops seeing Tessie Hutchinson as a valued member of the community and is seen as a vulnerable person. obligation when it turns out that she is the one who won. "Okay, everyone." Mr. Summers said. 'Let's finish quickly'. She goes from being someone's wife, someone's mother, to the sacrificial lamb that year. Mr. Summers asking people to "finish quickly" shows the lack of empathy among residents; it also shows how people feel as if such a barbaric act is so natural, so inevitable that questioning it would be a shame. The expulsion of Tess Hutchinson shows how detached the citizens are from this ritual. Tessie's death is seen not as a tragedy but as an inconvenient necessity. She is so isolated from the community that someone even hands a pebble to her son, Dave Hutchinson. People in the community are so blind to tradition that they mock newer towns with young people abolishing the lottery; they have based their entire lives on it and to break away from the institution of the lottery seems something unfathomable. We can see that no amount of pleading from the selected individual will change the mentality of the community. Even if the community breathes a sigh of relief when little Dave Hutchinson is not the winner; there is no guarantee that they would not have killed him if his paper had been marked. The citizens would willingly turn against anyone - their friends, their neighbors and even their families - which indicates that they are blindly following traditions. The older generation, especially Old Man Warner - who Jackson inserted into the story as a point of reference for the tradition - is very skeptical about abandoning the lottery tradition; although he is the only one who comes close to providing a "rational" explanation for the lottery; it is so ancient that all it knows is that it is linked to abundance every year. “June Lottery, Corn Will Be Heavy Soon.” People who share the same feelings as Old Man Warner – the older generation – fear scarcity: they are worried about going back to living as hunter-gatherers and not as farmers. “The next moment they'll want to go back to living in the caves, no one works anymore, you'll live like this for a while. Once…soon.” First we would all eat stewed chickweed and acorns. For this fear of regressing to primitive times; Old Man Warner does not want to entertain the idea of ​​change as it is a metaphor for tradition. “A bunch of crazy people,” he said. «Listening to young people, for them there is nothing that is good. As highlighted above, the city's residents have such a strong belief in the lottery that they would put it above everyone else. When Tessie Hutchinson is late for the lottery, Mrs. Delacroix reassures her that she got there on time by saying, "You're on time, though." They're still talking up there.' From this interaction we can deduce that these two women appear to be friends. However, when Tessie Hutchinson is chosen as the lottery winner, it is notable that “Mrs. Delacroix chose a stone so large that he had to take it with both hands” and also encourages other citizens to “hurry up”. Any semblance of civility that existed in Mrs. Delacroix flew out the window the moment”.