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Why Tessie Deserved Her Fate
Introduction
Summary
Beginning
In a small village of roughly three hundred residents, the annual lottery is deeply ingrained in communal life. On a clear summer morning, men, women, and children gather in the town square, whispering with anticipation. The ritual, passed down for generations, brings the entire population together; they await the moment when the selected family will be revealed.
Middle
Following a fearful hush, Mr. Summers, the official who oversees the event, invites each household to draw a slip of paper from the old black box. As each member approaches, villagers gossip quietly about neighboring towns and the wares they may prefer, all the while maintaining a tense excitement.
End
Ultimately, the Hutchinson family finds its name called. Tessie Hutchinson, having arrived late to the square, protests at her selection, lamenting the randomness of the result. In a unanimous act, she is then stoned by her own community, fulfilling the cruel climax of the tradition.
Significance
The lottery’s endurance underscores the perilous power of unexamined customs and the idea of karmic retribution. By examining Tessie’s fate, one can reflect on how adherence to ritual can override individual morality and highlight the broader risk of collective conformity.
Thesis
Tessie could be seen as deserving her fate because the lottery was a tradition in her town that everyone was expected to follow, the drawing was random which made it fair, and even though Tessie knew about the lottery and the risks, she still chose to remain in the town.
Body Paragraph #1: The Weight of Tradition
The village’s black box symbolizes the weight of unchallenged custom. As observed, “Had been lost long ago, and the black box now resting on the stool had been put into use even before Old man Warner, the oldest man in town, was born. 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. There was a story that the present box had been made with some pieces of the box that had preceded it, the one that had been constructed when the first people settled down to make a village here” (Jackson 2). From this, we infer that the original lottery devices have vanished into history, yet the townspeople cling to the remnants with reverence. The fact that Mr. Summers’s suggestion to replace the box is always refused indicates the community’s deep-seated fear of disrupting ritual. The box itself, patched with fragments of its forebears, testifies to a ritual stripped of context and reason, yet still honored. In accepting this ritual unconditionally, Tessie bound herself to its outcome. The unquestioned continuation of the lottery for countless generations normalized its brutality, and Tessie’s participation from childhood onward signifies her assent to the custom’s preservation and its inherent risks.
Body Paragraph #2: Fairness Through Randomness
A second pillar that undergirds the village’s acceptance of the lottery is the fairness of a blind draw. The narrator notes, “Mr. Summers had stirred the papers thoroughly with his hand… great deal of fussing to be done before… the lists to make up–of heads of families, heads of households in each family, members of each household in each family…also a ritual salute which the official of the lottery had had to use in addressing each person who came up to draw from the box” (Jackson 2). The physical mixing of the slips by Mr. Summers ensures that no favoritism taints the ritual; villagers trust that each name has an equal chance, regardless of status or wealth. The meticulous counting and the formalized greeting further reinforce that every member is accounted for equally, highlighting that no one is immune from selection. By drawing blindly, the community believes it upholds justice, transforming a vicious act into an equitable procedure. Tessie’s acceptance of this system—until her own selection—demonstrates her recognition of the lottery’s fairness, even as she later claims it is not fair when her name emerges.
Body Paragraph #3: Tessie’s Responsibility
Tessie Hutchinson’s response to her selection reveals the tension between personal agency and communal obligation. As the villagers close in, “Tessie Hutchinson was in the center of a cleared space by now and she held her hands out desperately as the villagers moved in on her. ‘It isn