Setting, Conflict, And Resolution In The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

In the story, The Lottery by Shirley Jackson the story starts on a peaceful day, June 27th. The villagers of a relatively small town began to gather and sign in for the annual lottery. Young village residents are seen gathering stones and loading up their pockets. After the late arrival of Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson, the lottery begins. Each last name of every family is called and a representative from the family (mostly men) go to the stool to pick their card. After everyone was called it was revealed that the Hutchinson family was picked. Tessie Hutchinson, the mother and wife of the family, was angered tremendously. She believed that her husband was not given enough time to pick his card fairly. Many people disagreed and there was nothing she could do. The Hutchinson family was brought up to the front of the crowd and each member of the family picked another card. One by one each family member chose and revealed their cards showing that they were not picked. Then lastly Tessie was forced to …show more content…
One conflict that the author uses is the conflict between Mrs. Hutchinson and village people. The story says, ““‘I think we ought to start over,’ Mrs. Hutchinson said, as quietly as she could. ‘I tell you it wasn't fair. You didn't give him time enough to choose. Everybody saw that.’” (7). In the quote, we can see that Tessie Hutchinson has changed her view of the lottery, yet the village people still believe that it's an okay thing to do just because of the tradition behind it. This isn't the only time the author uses the conflict between Tessie and the villagers. Another example of this is, “Tessie Hutchinson was in the center of a cleared space by now, and she held her hands out desperately as the villagers moved in on her. ‘It isn't fair,’” (9). Here, we again see how Tessie has changed and the villagers won’t. Therefore, the plot elements of conflict and resolution further develop the