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The Symbolism Of Tessie In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

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Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery” uses Tessie as a symbol to convey an underlying message about how communities can have a negative impact when women speak up for what’s right. For instance, the text states that Tessie thought it was unfair and Mrs. Hutchinson agreed with Tessie and also thought it was unfair, “ ‘ It isn’t fair’ she said. A stone hit the side of her head…’It isn’t fair, it isn’t right’, Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her.” This piece of evidence reveals Tessie’s struggle to convince the crowd that this lottery is biased. The lottery was never fair to begin with and Tessie had to fight back against her community. While she argued that it was not fair Mrs. Hutchinson then snapped back to reality

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