Tess's Harvest: A Sacrifice of Tradition

For the Harvest: A Sacrifice of Tradition

         It’s June and the crops will be ready soon.  The townspeople gather in the square.  The official brings out the black box, and so begins “The Lottery”.  In this story, our characters are members of small unnamed community, common folk, with children and responsibilities.  They meet in the center of the town to complete the drawing of one name.  To select that one name from so many, the head of the household is called forth to draw from the ancient box a folded piece of paper.  Thus one family is chosen by means of an ugly charcoal dot.  All the papers are returned, they put in just enough pieces for each member of the family and the rest are loosed to the wind.  The family members draw, this time the youngest draws first and so on, until the father draws last.  In this story, Tess Hutchinson, late to the draw and clearly upset that her family was chosen, bears out the black mark.  Called on by the official to hurry, Tess is summarily stoned.  The author, as a means of social commentary on antiquated traditions, illustrates a wicked deed, in an idyllic setting.  The characters, Tess in particular, are an allegory of the people at odds with behaviors seen in a group stubbornly attached to their tradition. 

Tess, short for Theresa, in Greek (Terizo) means to harvest. (Campbell)  This is significant because this archaic tradition is carried out, according to Old Man Warner, to ensure that their crops come in well, to ensure a good harvest. On Ancestry.Com, Hutchinson is a form of Hugh, which means heart or spirit. (Ancestry.com Inc.).  Thus Tess Hutchinson is the spirit of the harvest.  She is at the heart of this tradition, and yet, she objects to being the sacrifice, pleading for her life.

The author gives us the impression that Tess is a middle aged woman, married with at least one grown child, and three more still at home.  She is a modest woman, arriving at the towns gathering with “her sweater thrown over her shoulders.” (Jackson 588) Since we know this story takes place at the end of June, we know it isn’t because she’s cold.  She is depicted as a stable, well-recognized member of this small community.  As she makes her way through the crowd, members call out “Here comes your missus, Hutchinson” (Jackson 589). They let her make her way through the crowd to stand with her family, and after some good natured kidding, she explains that she couldn’t leave her chores unfinished.  All involved, in agreement, know what that means, familiar with this process and its ending.  At this point, Tess carries in the back of her mind, the notion she might not return from this lottery, but doesn’t choose to acknowledge it.

As the names are being drawn, Tess urges Mr. Hutchinson to “Get up there, Bill.” (Jackson 590)  She is a willing participant in the lottery.  No-one has forced her to act, and even after it’s determined that her family is the recipient of the black dot, she does nothing more than offer verbal complaints. She is like those people who see a crime being committed on the street and do nothing but watch.  It’s not until it happens to her, that she objects.  She even offers to throw her grown daughter and son-in-law in to share her lot.  But still, she doesn’t take her family and run, she is stuck in the mire of her tradition and she realizes her fate hangs on five measly pieces of paper.  At this point, you would expect a mother to give her life for her children, but that’s not the way this tradition works.  In this farce of fairness, all must draw.          

One has to wonder if all the people selected in the lottery have gone through this metamorphosis.  Her character, the fine upstanding participant is reduced to a shrieking, sniveling, whining shell, refusing even to listen to her husband who tells her to be quiet.  Even her name in the story changes, from Tess, a mature woman, to Tessie, a scared child.
This society changes as well, from well-mannered townsfolk, into a resolute mob.  They aren’t out for justice, they are out for an ancient form of legalized murder.  Tess’s character, realizing that she is the “victim” does what anyone who sees this behavior as immoral or unethical would do, but she doesn’t fight back, she instead gives up.  It speaks to our objection about certain social traditions.  The ones we object to but do nothing to change. We all have been Tess at one time or another.  The author simply enlightens us as to what can happen when we allow tradition to stagnate and status-quo to kill.



Works Cited
Ancestry.com Inc. Ancestry.com. 1997-2010. Web 7 Spetember 2010 <http://www.ancestry.com/facts/Hugh-name-meaning.ashx>.
Campbell, Mike. Behind The Name.Com. 1996.  Web 7 September 2010 <http://www.behindthename.com/name/theresa>.
Jackson, Shirley. "The Lottery." Ann Charters, Editor. The Story and It's Writers. 8th Edition. 586-592 Print.