Analysis Of Tessie In Shirley Jackson's Short Story 'The Lottery'

Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery” uses Tessie as a symbol about individuals getting shunned from the community for speaking out against societal traditions. For example, when Mr. Summers is speaking to the villagers he states, “Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box.”(26) This explains how the villagers do not want to change anything from their tradition like the black box. This connects back to how Tessie symbolizes individuals who speak out for their community because she did not agree about changing anything from the black box. This supports the theme of getting shunned when challenging traditions because when a new idea is presented everyone is against it. Another example is when Tessie gets shunned Jackson states “Suddenly, Tessie Hutchinson shouted to Mr. Summers, “You didn’t give him time enough to take enough to take any paper he wanted.

I saw you, Tessie, “Bill Hutchinson said.”(31) This illustrates how the community shuts Tessie out as an individual who is speaking out against society 's rituals like in the lottery like in the lottery no one wanted to change the traditions of the