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Similarities Between The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas And The Lottery

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The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas and The Lottery on the theme of sacrifice Ursula K. Le Guin’s, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” and Shirley Jackson’s, “The Lottery,” share a similarity in that they both touch on the theme of sacrifice but do share their differences in how this is done. Both of the stories take place in societies that practice a form of utilitarianism, where both societies believe that the sacrifice of an individual can be justified if for the greater good. Both stories explore how some sacrifices are not always as great as the outcome or some sacrifices have too great of an outcome to break. Finally, the two also bring up the sacrifice of individualism in a society, where one's individuality can have drastic The city …show more content…

This concept shows that Jackson is drawing out the town as one that believes in utilitarianism. Old Man Warner states, “There's always been a lottery,” suggesting that the lottery creates a utilitarian dilemma of sacrifice to fulfill tradition. killing a member of their population will net the gain of satisfying a long-standing tradition. further, Mr. Adams is quoted saying, “that over in the north village, they’re talking of giving up the lottery,” conveying that people outside of the town understand that such a sacrifice of a life is not as great as the outcome of a continuing tradition. For the people of the town “The Lottery,” is based in, breaking a tradition that has been standing for as long as they have all were born, is not something that can net them as much gain as simply following town heritage. As well, Jackson uses Tessie Hutchinson to create a symbol for how individualism is sacrificed when identifying within a society. Tessie stood out from the crowd with her poor punctuality, antics and her sharing of opinions, sort of how individualism can mean to stand out from the crowd. Before being murdered Tessie Hutchinson states, “It isn’t fair, it isn’t right,” symbolizing that although individualism should be embraced no matter what it will not overpower conformity within society. Jackson also uses Old Man Warner as a symbol of conformity that the lottery brings. Old Man Warner states, “Seventy-seventh year I was in the lottery,” inferring that as long as the lottery has been around so has the conformity of the town to go along with tradition. His never being picked for the lottery shows that conformity can not be sacrificed when it comes to

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