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   dneshan Teacher
   High School - 11th Grade

   eNotes Editor

   The main characters of "The Lottery" are obviously the Hutchinsons because they are the family who "wins" the first round pick of the paper with the black dot on it.  After the family has "won" after the first round, Tessie knows what is going to happen next.  Each member of her family is going to have to individually pick another piece of paper to determine the final "winner" of the village's lottery.  When she realizes that her family will go on to the second round, she tries to include her oldest daughter and her daughter's family into the second round, which, for Tessie, would give her a smaller chance of winning if more people were included in her family.  Therefore, she tries to achieve a lose for herself in the lottery pick even though the result of her losing the lottery would be someone else in her family -- husband, son, daughter -- winning, and therefore, dying as a result.

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   Posted by dneshan on Saturday January 31, 2009 at 10:59 AM