In any work of literature, the greatest dilemma is a character's ability to either influence or be influenced by an outside force in determining the resolution to the moral dilemma presented in the plot. This happens when a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly and abruptly resolved by an unexpected and seemingly unlikely occurrence, typically so much as to seem contrived. In The Night Women , the deus ex machina is the dilemma of single parenthood where instead of succumbing to the pressure of motherly obligations, the woman uses all in her power to provide for herself and her son in defying against odds just like Tessie does in The Lottery when she stands against the century-long tradition of the lottery that the society is adamant to let go despite its unfair nature and the fact that other communities are ruling it out as a backward tradition.
In The Night Woman , a 25-year-old woman prepares her son for bed every night and makes sure he is fast asleep before she starts her nightlife. She is a single mother prostitute who uses her body to provide for her son after his father and her lover deserted them. In a society where it is challenging for women to have stable and dignified sources of income, the woman refuses to bow down to this pressure but instead is devoted and determined to do all she can to provide for herself and her child. I the daytime, she tempts men, and at night these men come to lie with her at her house. Having separated her son's ‘bedroom' and her place of work with a curtain, the woman, is determined to do all she can to protect him from this harsh reality of their lives. She ensures that she blows his eyelashes and touches his face to ensure he is truly sleeping before letting in men for the night. It is apparent that the woman is determined to control the unfavorable social disposition she and her son are in by using her body to raise money to get them out of poverty and manages to pay the bills (Danticat, 2004). In the end, this act of love and sacrifice builds on the resolution of the story by portraying the woman as a selfless, caring mother determined to provide the best life for her son.
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In The Lottery , the lottery game is brought to an abrupt end when Tessie questions its credibility and importance in the current society seeing as it is that other villages are ruling it out from their cultural practices since it is old and wayward. The villagers are adamant in keeping this tradition alive, despite the fact that even the original lottery box was lost many years ago and the town elder was against making a new one because according to him this would imply fooling around with tradition. The game is unfair on all accounts, something Tessie observes with much regret. The lottery rules no longer apply. The game is supposed to be free and fair, and no one is supposed to look at the paper until everyone has drawn. There are rumors that people in the north village might stop the lottery, but the village elder ridicules the young people. When the game is done, word goes around that a certain Bill Hutchinson has won. Tessie is the only one who protests that the game is not fair because Bill did not have time to select a paper and he lies that he has only three kids. Realizing this oppressive revelation Tessie draws up a paper with a black dot in as much as she was not allowed to. The crowd stones her for what she believes to be her fighting for justice (Jackson, 2018). In the end, it is her actions that lead to the rolling out of the game in the village due to its unfair nature.
References
Danticat, E. (2004). Krik? Krak! Soho Press.
Jackson, S. (2018). The Lottery . Wildside Press LLC.
