FREE ESSAY ON THE LOTTERY

THE LOTTERY

All people are unique in their own ways, however have contradictory characteristics such
as good and evil. Some people have a soul in which the good side is more dominant, and
others have a more dominant bad side. The lottery is a way for the characters in the
story to reveal the hidden evil of their souls.
One example of this is portrayed through the eagerness and the willingness to participate
in the lottery. One of the characters says that they feel like its only been a few weeks
since the last lottery, which gives the impression that the lottery is something to look
forward to. This shows that the evil side of these people enjoys inflicting pain on
others.
Mrs. Hutchinson was eager to get to the lottery herself. She shows the evil in her
character by wishing the pain that she must live through, and perhaps even die as the
outcome, on others. She does not want to accept the fact that she was chosen. Mrs.
Hutchinson says that it is "not fair", regarding the final results of the lottery. The
lottery was something she looked forward to until the outcome of the lottery was forced
upon her.
The entire population of the town participates in the tradition of the lottery. This
shows that the whole community releases a part of their evil onto others. They are all
eager to see someone beaten with rocks, however none of them want it to be them. Even the
town's children were involved in the savage ritual. After Tessie Hutchinson was chosen
some of the towns children gave some pebbles to her son so he too could participate in
the torture of his own mother. This horrible tradition is placed into the lives of the
descendants of the town, so it is passed on from generation to generation. These people
are taught to let the evil inside of them loose during the lottery.
The evil in the souls of the townspeople is brought out during the lottery. It is more of
an evil that is held in, rather than hidden. This evil comes out once a year for the
lottery and takes over the mind and body of all of its participants, which makes them see
this ritual as a normal tradition that has been kept alive for many years. Everyone has
some evil in them, but the lottery gives people a chance to accentuate this evil and to
let it loose.