The One Who Walks Away From Omelas, by Ursula K. Leguin and The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson

Imagine a perfect world: the sun beaming through translucent clouds, open fields drenched in daisies, and friendly neighbors on every corner. Everything one could possibly wish for, or need, already existing in his or her presence. No one questions this ideal way of life, or stirs up chaos to change it. In a nutshell, everyone is happy. In the short stories, "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" by Ursula K. Leguin, and "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, the main focus is the idea of human suffering. Would this world still be considered perfect, or just an excuse used to justify the wellbeing of a society at the expense of another. It is inhumane and unjust for a community to blindly select one to bear all of its weight, even for the sake of tradition. Coincidentaly, the idea of a sacrificial lamb suffering for prosperity resurfaces in everyday life. These stories prove that even the brightest of places can hold the darkest of secrets.

In Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," the idea of chance is presented. Jackson utilizes the word "lottery" throughout the story to bring an alternative thought to a common connotation. In reality, the lottery is a roulette used to randomly select an individual's slip that has been marked for sacrifice.Each member, from the oldest elders, such as Old Man Warner, down to the youngest children have a fair shot in this drawing. It is believed that the chosen one serves as an annual offering for the town's fall harvest. This time around, the lottery winner is common housewife, mother, and friend, Tesse Hutchinson. Although indirectly shown, the lottery and its victims could be interpreted in the sense that society wrongfully designates one to bear the sins of the whole. In the end, Tesse is sto...

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...ep tradition and suffrage in check. As Leguin blatantly adresses, "if you can't lick 'em, join 'em. If it hurts, repeat it. But to praise despair is to condemn delight, to embrace violence is to lose hold of everything else." When one lets go of what is moral to satisfy personal advantage, happiness becomes obsolete. Those who claim to be happy and aware of the price being paid for their happiness, are not happy at all. In fact, they are the stoners, the Omelians, the ones who are afraid to break the tradition they blindly follow, and in the end, they themselves will suffer.

Works Cited

Jackson, Shirley. "The Lottery." in Literature: The Human Experience. Ed. Abcarian et. al. Boston: Bedford, 2010. 339-345. Print.

LeGuin, Ursula. "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas." in Literature: The Human Experience. Ed. Abcarian et. al. Boston: Bedford, 2010. 346-350. Print.