The Lottery Essay, Research Paper

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.