Individual in SocietyCan an individual change a large group of people? Can the effort of a single person be enough to break an erroneous tradition practiced by a society? In most cases the answer would be “yes”, and in some cases “no”. Many people try to succeed, but many fail, just like the main character Tessie Hutchinson in Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery." When someone hears the word “lottery,” they may think that someone will be rewarded with a prize. But Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" is different than you think. In the story, a lottery is going to be organized, not like Mega Million or Powerball here. In the story, the person who wins the lottery is stoned to death instead of being rewarded with the prize. Tessie Hutchinson, the main character of the story, is the wife of Mr. Bill Hutchinson and also the mother of three siblings and a married daughter. Jackson presents Mrs. Hutchinson as a strongly rebellious character. Mrs. Hutchinson plays two different roles in this story. At first, she enthusiastically participates in the lottery ceremony, but her character changes when her husband chooses the winning death lottery for their family. Mrs. Hutchinson is presented as a blind follower of old tradition, a strong rebellious character and a selfish and careless person in society. At the beginning of one story, Jackson introduces Mrs. Hutchinson as a follower of the old tradition. When Mrs. Hutchinson rushes to participate in the lottery, she seems very excited. When she arrived a little late and said, “Clean forgot what day it was,” the people next to her laughed softly (Jackson 904-905). Even though she didn't arrive at the lottery venue on time, she couldn't reject or opt out of the tradition. ...... middle of paper ...... in place of a member of his family. Looking at Mrs. Hutchinson's character, we can see that there are a lot of lies within society. Every person in society has a real face behind the mask. Furthermore, Jackson clearly presents the danger of blindly following tradition and the selfishness of society. In this story, Jackson successfully portrays the life of an individual against society. Individuality doesn't stand a chance against a large group of people who blindly follow a tradition. Furthermore, an individual who wants to change society risks never succeeding until the end. To change the attitude of a large group of people, an individual must be supported by a large number of people. Bibliography Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery”. Literature for life. XJ Kennedy, Dana Gioia and NinaReveoyr. Boston: Pearson, 2013. 903-908. Print.