Free Essay About Tessie Hutchinson In The Lottery

Character: Tessie Hutchinson

Plot: The Lottery follows an event in a small village where they perform a ritual that takes two hours.
Setting: During summer in a small town in America with about 300 people.
Tessie Hutchinson, the protagonist in The Lottery, fulfills the scapegoat archetype because she is used as a victim by the townspeople during the lottery event. She is stoned to death unfairly by the people after picking the marked paper in the lottery which is an outdated practice. The Lottery is a short story by Shirley Jackson. It is a story about an annual event called the Lottery taking place in a village every year to please the gods. Jackson’s story revolves around a village with different characters and different personalities for instance Tessie Hutchinson. As the central character and the winner of the lottery, Tessie Hutchinson becomes the sacrificial lamb for the day. The character archetype present in the lottery is the scapegoat whereby Tessie is the scapegoat of the townspeople. Tessie stands out from the rest from the beginning when she arrives late for the lottery. Jackson writes that she admits having to turn up late because she forgot what day it was (8). Even though she was in denial from the beginning, she had to accept the outcome and face death even though it brought a lot of grief to her.
Tessie Hutchinson is a character with qualities that stand out more from the others in the story. She arrived late for the village ceremony, and this makes her peculiar from the rest of the townspeople. She came alone in the ceremony, yet the rest arrived with their families. In addition, she is the only character who protests against the Lottery. She says, “You didn't give him time enough to take any paper he wanted. I saw you, it wasn’t fair!” (Jackson 46). This quote explains her feelings towards this outrageous tradition now that she was sure that she is the one to be stoned to death that day. Even though she is silenced, she is the only character in the story that was able to protests against the Lottery tradition terming it as unfair and outrageous. Moreover, she still protests after Bill draws the slip insisting that he was not given enough time to draw. Tessie is the only person that can be seen protesting during the lottery function as everyone was quite waiting for their fate.
Another notable character trait portrayed by Tessie Hutchinson in the story is the eagerness to join the lottery. Even though she came late, she was eager to participate in the tradition because she walked straight to the square, yet the other people already present were standing away from the square with the piles of stones. Throughout the story, there are instances where Tessie Hutchinson stands out from the rest. She appears dominating over her husband when she says "Get up there Bill" when her husband was called out to represent the family by drawing (Jackson 30). The crowd laughs when she orders Bill Hutchinson to stand up even before his time comes, and this shows that she is dominating her family.
Tessie Hutchinson is a self-centered character. This is evident when she is willing to sacrifice another family member just to save herself from being stoned. She says, "There's Don and Eva, make them take their chance!" (Jackson). She openly offered her son-in-law and daughter to be stoned instead of herself. In addition, her self-centeredness is also portrayed when she protests after learning that her family had been chosen and she is the sacrificial lamb for the tradition. She only felt that it was unfair because it was her family and it was her dying that day. Tessie was ready to sacrifice anyone from the family so as to avoid facing the lottery, but all was in vain. By doing this, Mrs. Hutchinson failed as a mother; moreover she did not even say bye to the family even though she knew she was going to die.
The Lottery is set in a rural setting in a small town where during summer, a primitive ceremony called the lottery takes place, and the winner is stoned to death. Tessie emerges the winner of the lottery and as a victim of the primeval ceremony, she is stoned to death. Tessie Hutchinson is used as a scapegoat and punished to death for a sin she has not committed. The villagers due to their superstitions sacrificed her in order to have a good harvest. In addition, Mrs. Hutchinson is used as a representative of the people in the story. Jackson uses her to present a primitive nature that was happening, and she had to protest against it even though she died in the end. She continued protesting till her death just to let the people know that lottery was a primitive and a despicable ceremony that should be forgotten by the townspeople.
Even though Tessie Hutchinson was a character who wanted to join her community in the lottery tradition, she was not aware that she was going to be the sacrificial lamb for the year. Tessie is a character who stands out from the rest from the beginning of the lottery till the end. She arrived late when everyone was already settled. In addition, she protests against the process terming it unfair, yet all the other people said nothing. Tessie is a character who was different from the rest from the way she carried herself around during the ceremony.

Work cited

Jackson, Shirley. The Lottery. USA: The Creative Company, 2008. Print.