Conflict And Controversy In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

1050 Words5 Pages
"Conflict and Controversy in the Lottery" Shirley Jackson wrote "The Lottery" as a very intriguing yet horrifying short story. This story is very well known due to the village’s annual tradition. The title makes the story come off as it will be a fortunate event because "lottery" usually comes across as "money". Unfortunately, in this story, the title doesn't mean what it typically does. There isn't any money involved. The tradition the village faces is actually extremely controversial. In particular, the conflict of the story can be seen in the difference between Old Man Warner and Tessie Hutchinson. The lottery happens only once a year and takes place in the village. It takes place every year on June 27th. All of the people of the village gather on this day in the…show more content…
Everyone in the town has drawn their piece of paper and opens it. The Hutchinson family then opens the paper that Bill is holding, and it is the dot. Mrs. Hutchinson then starts protesting that her husband has not been given enough time to draw. Everyone has gotten the same amount of time to draw, so she is just making up an excuse so no one in her family has to die. She cannot get over the fact of someone in her family having to die. Tessie Hutchinson shouted, 'You didn't give him enough time to take any paper he wanted. I saw you. It wasn't fair.’ At this point in the story, Tessie is acting selfish and coming off as unfair to the other townspeople. She has not taken the ritual of the town well; she doesn't understand the seriousness the town has for this event. Tessie Hutchinson never faces the fact that she has pulled the piece of paper with the dot on it. Tessie finally faces reality when everyone from the town has picked up the stones to throw at her. The town’s people now have to throw stones at Tessie until she is dead. In fact, her own family has to participate in the cruel act of stoning

More about Conflict And Controversy In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

Open Document