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Sacrifice And Corruption In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

257 Words2 Pages

Have you ever been in a situation where you witnessed someone being hurt? Did you do anything to stop them? Most times, we are afraid to help someone else in order to not risk our own lives. Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” uses Tessie as a symbol to explore the idea that fear can lead to the collapse and corruption of a community. In "The Lottery" we are introduced to an unusual lottery in where one person gets unfortunately chosen and stoned to death. In the short story, we process Tessie, the unfortunate that gets stoned to death. In the community, Tessie is surrounded with has proven to be a community that fears to speak up for others in order to not risk their lives. Jackson illustrates Tessie calls out "it's not fair"(33).

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