Blindly obeying authority often results In disobedience to one's personal morality. Since rules were established and exist for the common interests of the general population, some would say adhering to the rules is obedient. Contrary to popular belief, disobedience does not center around ignorant rebellion. In fact disobedience is the manner which people shed enlightenment on the well-traveled trail of benightedness, by offering another point of view. In "The Lottery", by Shirley Jackson, a fictional town is introduced in which all the villagers participate annually in a lottery used to determine which inhabitant is to be stoned to death; performed out of habit, it demonstrates ritualized unthinking obedience to custom. Moreover, in "Group Minds", Dorris Lessing asserts that a lack of awareness of the extent to which groups mitigate a person's individuality makes that person susceptible to the pressures of groups. Using the threat of world total destruction as a backdrop, Erich Fromm's "Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem" distinguishes between disobedience that is destructive and disobedience that is life affirming. Lessing and Fromm have different analysis of obedience when it comes to the stoning of Tessie Hutchinson and the father/son relationship in "The Lottery".
             The stoning of Tessie Hutchinson reflects one pattern of obedience. We first meet Tessie Hutchinson when she arrives to the lottery. It is significant that she has just come from washing her dishes which is one of the most basic jobs of housework. Wiping her hands on her apron and apologizing for being late by saying, " Wouldn't have me leave m'dishes in the sink, now would you.Joe?," help establish Tessie's status in this society as a housewife. Tessie accepts her role in society, up to a point. It is interesting that she is the one who urges her husban
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