Jackson Scapegoat In The Golden Bowl

Tessie Hutchinson was stoned to death in order to have a good harvest for all the crops being grown in the town. In the Bible of the Old Testament, it says that each year on the Day of Atonement, they would use 2 goats. One to be sacrificed for the Lord and one to atone for the people’s sins. However in this case, they sacrifice Tessie for the good of the community. Jackson was inspired to have a sacrificial ritual from a Syracuse University professor's Introduction to Folklore course and Sir James Frazer's The Golden Bough, an enormous collection of folktales and myths that inspired modern American literature. In Frazer’s work, she used the guideline of using a scapegoat in a story:
Jackson's lottery conforms to the four aspects of a scapegoat ritual laid out by Frazer. First, the scapegoat itself serves as the individual, tangible representation of the entire community's less tangible evils-Tessie is sacrificed for the good of the community. Second, a
By doing so, the villagers can have a good harvest for the rest of the year until the next lottery begins. The second aspect says that there is a time period that is between rituals, specifically around the same day of the summer solstice every year. The date in the story is June 27th, the assumption that can be made is that the story takes place of the year of 1948 which was the 21st of June. The third aspect says a period of lessening of moral restrictions. In the beginning of the story, the children are playing and the adults stop working until the end of the story that shows the terrifying truth about the lottery. Finally the last aspect, the sacrifice is seen as divine in nature. The winner of the lottery according to Old Man Warner, should be at least respected or honored for becoming the winner of the lottery and feel happy that they were chosen to be sacrificed and not feel like they deserve to be murdered