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What do Tess's words and actions say about the village and the nature of the ritual in "The Lottery"?

Most of the words that come out of Tessie Hutchinson's mouth are basically complaints about the fairness of the process of the lottery. That, in itself, shows the asinine nature of the practice, and the equally ignorant nature of the followers of such practice. It is clear the villagers cannot be bright and independent thinkers, otherwise this ridiculous tradition would have never become a reality in the first place. Also, if the villagers were rational beings, the lottery would have been abolished by the common sense of the people. Instead, we see the opposite.


The villagers are entirely bound to the macabre tradition of the lottery. Their day depends on it. There are roles to be followed in the process, and there are no questions raised prior to the moment when it is the turn of the "winner" to die. Still, it is admitted in the story that the villagers do not quite know why they are really doing the lottery.



Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones. The pile of stones the boys had made earlier was ready; there were stones on the ground with the blowing scraps of paper that had come out of the box Delacroix selected a stone so large she had to pick it up with both hands and turned to Mrs. Dunbar. "Come on," she said. "Hurry up.



Tess's words of "It's not fair," reflect the blindness of following a practice for the sake of following. It also reflects the villagers' selfishness: Notice how Tess does not say anything about the fairness, or lack of fairness, of the lottery until the name of her family comes up, and until it is her turn to be stoned to death. Perhaps it has been the same with all the other villagers who also thought, like Tess, that the lottery "was not fair" when it was all too late.

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