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The Consequences Of Justice In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

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“Every action has equal and opposite reactions. This is law of the universe and spares none. Wrong done and injustice inflicted is paid back in the same coin. No one has escaped justice of the universe. It is only a matter of time” (Anil Sinha). Karma is a force that shouldn’t be tested; no matter who it is or where they are, it will always be there when fate is ready. Even if these people try to conceal their true emotions, they will pay the price. Normally, the price will be as extreme as the action that has been done; maybe even death. Likewise, within Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” Tessie acts as an admirable, hard-working mom; however, her sincere character is later exposed as a fearful, hypocritical, unheroic woman which reveals her …show more content…

Her punishment is revealed at the end of the story when the climax is at its highest; the result of who won the lottery. Everyone in the Hutchinson family chose a slip of paper from the black box, they open it and see Tessie is the one with the black dot paper. This black dot indicates that Tessie is the winner of the lottery. She then claims that “It wasn’t fair!” (6) and that she shouldn’t have to be the one chosen. This shows that she is trying to change the rules to benefit herself now that she knows that she is the chosen one. At first, the reader doesn’t see why it’s so bad to be chosen because their thinking is of a modern-day lottery when the winner will receive a huge cash prize, but this is certainly not the case. It is revealed that the “winner” of the lottery will be stoned to death by everyone in the town. In fact, this is related to karma and how wrongdoing will result in payback. The ending puts an effect on the reader because it can be seen why she was stoned, due to her greediness, and total selfishness, that results in her death. Furthermore, her death shows the reader what karma can do to a person who acts the way Tessie

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