In both “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and "The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas" by Ursula LeGuin, we see the downsides of society shown in similar ways. A scapegoat, someone who is arbitrarily chosen to take punishment for something, is used both of the stories; in these stories, the character acting as the scapegoat does so to take on blame for their entire town. In “The Lottery”, we are able to see a scapegoat that has some reason to blame. Tessie shows that she does not agree with the practice of the lottery by coming in late in the beginning, stating that she forgot, “… then I remembered what it was the twenty-seventh and came a-running” (Jackson 249). By seemingly forgetting about such an important ritual held in the town, she begins
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She does not literally oppose tradition until it is her family that is chosen, then she begins to shout about how it is “unfair” and even claiming that they “…didn’t give him time enough to take any paper he wanted” (Jackson 251). Although she seems to not approve of the traditions, she, like many others in the community, is too afraid of change to attempt sort of uprising until it becomes vehemently necessary. Those who oppose change, like Old Man Warner, seem to do that for two reasons; first being the above reason, fear, and the second being because, to the community, in order for them all to be happy, one of them must die. No one seems to feel any sympathy or regret for their traditions, in fact, they seem to sickeningly enjoy stoning their neighbor to death, even giving Little Davy Hutchinson a pebble to throw at his …show more content…
This question, posed by “The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas”, is a troublesome one, however, more troublesome is the knowledge of what most of us would choose. Personally, I feel that I live in comfort compared to many other parts of the world, as, I feel, are most others in our country. So, to help those who are in desperate need would force us to leave our “paradise”, which very few people are willing to do. In “The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas”, there are only a few people who even see anything wrong with torturing a child for “…their happiness, the beauty of their city, the tenderness of their friendships, the health of their children, the wisdom of their scholars, the skill of their makers, even the abundance of their harvest and the kindly weathers of their skies…” all of which they believe “…depend wholly on this child's abominable misery” (Le Guin 245). In this story, however, we see something different; we see sympathy, there is actual disgust shown by members of the community because they find the deplorable state that this child lives in to be, well, deplorable. Usually, when people come to see they child, they are young children, usually between eight and twelve; when they come to see the child, they “…are always shocked and sickened at the sight” (Le Guin 245). Not only that, but they have actually feelings about it too, unlike in “The
She does not literally oppose tradition until it is her family that is chosen, then she begins to shout about how it is “unfair” and even claiming that they “…didn’t give him time enough to take any paper he wanted” (Jackson 251). Although she seems to not approve of the traditions, she, like many others in the community, is too afraid of change to attempt sort of uprising until it becomes vehemently necessary. Those who oppose change, like Old Man Warner, seem to do that for two reasons; first being the above reason, fear, and the second being because, to the community, in order for them all to be happy, one of them must die. No one seems to feel any sympathy or regret for their traditions, in fact, they seem to sickeningly enjoy stoning their neighbor to death, even giving Little Davy Hutchinson a pebble to throw at his …show more content…
This question, posed by “The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas”, is a troublesome one, however, more troublesome is the knowledge of what most of us would choose. Personally, I feel that I live in comfort compared to many other parts of the world, as, I feel, are most others in our country. So, to help those who are in desperate need would force us to leave our “paradise”, which very few people are willing to do. In “The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas”, there are only a few people who even see anything wrong with torturing a child for “…their happiness, the beauty of their city, the tenderness of their friendships, the health of their children, the wisdom of their scholars, the skill of their makers, even the abundance of their harvest and the kindly weathers of their skies…” all of which they believe “…depend wholly on this child's abominable misery” (Le Guin 245). In this story, however, we see something different; we see sympathy, there is actual disgust shown by members of the community because they find the deplorable state that this child lives in to be, well, deplorable. Usually, when people come to see they child, they are young children, usually between eight and twelve; when they come to see the child, they “…are always shocked and sickened at the sight” (Le Guin 245). Not only that, but they have actually feelings about it too, unlike in “The