or Mr. Summers are tyrannical, awe inspiring, or otherwise persuasive leaders, the townspeople follow them. It is very probable that if the two of them proclaimed there would no longer be a lottery it would stop but they insist with the tradition. Unfortunately as is the case so often in reality, people follow them blindly, they are leaders in the community, they must know what they are doing right? When people fail to question their leadership, in reality, just as in “The Lottery,” terrible things happen.The other characters symbolize more the faults of individual humans rather than those of whole societies. The Hutchinson Family is both symbolic of internal faults that all humans have, such as cowardice and indifference. Bill Hutchinson is apparently so scared of saying no to authority that he will not take the necessary steps to protect his family. As a matter of fact he aids them in the death of his wife by forcing her to show the black spot. When a man is willing not just to stand by and watch as his wife is stoned to death but actually force her into it, there is something truly wrong. However in a sense the entire town is filled with cowards. One might say, they seemed brave, all willing to go to the lottery and risk their lives for this ritual. In reality though they are cowards for not standing up and saying, “This year my family will not be participating in the lottery.” If Bill Hutchinson had refused to attend, then maybe Mr. Adams would have said well if he is not going neither am I. All of a sudden, no one goes to the lottery and there is no way Mr. Summers, Mr. Graves and Old Man Warner can force everyone to participate. Now because of the courage of one man there is no more lottery.Mrs. Hutchinson is indifferent to the fact that someone is going to die a violent death until it becomes apparent that that someone will be a member of her family or possibly herself. She is making jokes about th...
