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Characterization in The Lottery Revised

Tessie Hutchinson is characterized as a free spirit who rebels against the archaic lottery ritual, shown by her lateness, only protesting it once she is chosen. She represents youth and change, contrasting with Old Man Warner who adheres to tradition due to age. As the village elder who has participated in 77 lotteries, he believes the lottery tradition should continue as it always has. Mr. Summers oversees the lottery as commissioner but also leads other village activities, representing guilt for perpetuating the evil ritual, though he has discontinued some outdated rituals associated with it. Through these three characters, Jackson shows differing viewpoints on the lottery among the villagers.

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Characterization in The Lottery Revised

Tessie Hutchinson is characterized as a free spirit who rebels against the archaic lottery ritual, shown by her lateness, only protesting it once she is chosen. She represents youth and change, contrasting with Old Man Warner who adheres to tradition due to age. As the village elder who has participated in 77 lotteries, he believes the lottery tradition should continue as it always has. Mr. Summers oversees the lottery as commissioner but also leads other village activities, representing guilt for perpetuating the evil ritual, though he has discontinued some outdated rituals associated with it. Through these three characters, Jackson shows differing viewpoints on the lottery among the villagers.

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Characterization in The Lottery

In The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson, Tessie Hutchinson is seen as a free


spirit, one who rebels against the old and archaic ritual of the lottery, but only
once she is chosen. We first see Tessie arrive late to the lottery. All of the other
villagers have assembled in the square by the time the lottery is ready to start,
but Tessie rushes in late, teasing her husband as she makes her way to him at
what would otherwise be a solemn occasion. Her tardiness not only shows the
disregard she has for the lottery but also foreshadows that she will be the one
chosen; its fitting that she is chosen for this prestigious prize due to her
lateness.
Tessie is the only character given a nickname, of sorts, the other
characters are either referred to by the narrator as Mrs or Mr. Jackson makes
this distinction between Tessie and the other villagers to plainly show that she is
different from the rest, and to humanize her. In the readers mind, she should not
be grouped with them. When Tessie picks the marked paper, she protests the
unfairness of the lottery, causing Mrs. Delacroix to tell her to be a good sport.
Friedman, a literary critic, draws a parallel between Tessie and a frightened
animal once she is chosen, one that would sacrifice one of her own to save
herself, as she tries to get her daughter and her husband to have to draw to
increase her chances of survival. It is implied that if Tessie had not have been
chosen, she would have gladly participated in the festivities, even if the hunted
was one of her own.

Old Man Warner, the villages elder who has been in 77 lotteries, is
Tessies foil. While she represents youth and change, he represents age and
adherence to traditions. During the drawing, Mr. Adams remarks to Old Man
Warner: over in the north village theyre talking of giving up the lottery,. Old Man
Warner, stuck in his ways, says Theres always been a lottery,. By saying this,
he shows that he accepts things because its the way theyve always been. This
barbaric tradition of stoning one lucky member of the town has been allowed to
continue because of people like Old Man Warner, who have blindly followed the
actions of previous generations without question.
Mr. Summers is the lottery commissioner, the one who is in charge of
making all the slips for the drawing, a grave job for someone whoswhose name
is Summers. Besides holding the lottery, he conducts square dances, holds the
Halloween program, and manages the teen-age club, activities that Friedman
believes testifies to the guilt in Mr. Summers soul, for he is a willing leader and
thus a perpetrator of the evil,. Jackson never explains how Summers was given
this job, just that the villagers pity him because he had no children. Summers
has discontinued many of the old rituals of the lottery, there once was a recital of
some sort, performed by the official of the lottery, and that the official of the
lottery [...] was supposed to walk among the people,. Though Summers has
progressed enough to lose some of the outdated positions, it hasnt quite gotten
to the point that the lottery is beginning to phase out.
Through the characterization of Tessie Hutchinson, Old Man Warner, and
Mr. Summers, Shirley Jackson shows three differing viewpoints of the village.

Tessie is against the lottery, shown by her tardiness and lightheartedness


towards the annual drawing, but only when she is chosen. Old Man Warner is for
the lottery because thats the way its always been done. Mr. Summers is a fair
medium between the two, he commissions the lottery, but he is subconsciously
phasing out some of the rituals that go along with it.

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