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Similarities Between The Battle Royal And The Ones Who Walk Away From The Omelas

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“Battle Royal” by Ralph Ellison, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, and “The Ones Who Walk Away from the Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin are all stories that highlight the ugly side of humanity. In each story, there is a group of people who have all the power and do what is necessary to control the others, forcing the people to live a certain way. By using setting, imagery, characterization and symbolism, the authors illustrate the role of power and make it feel relevant to the reader.
Setting is used to let the reader understand how a group of people or society live in a certain area. Ralph Ellison’s “Battle Royale” takes place in a Southern town to show how oppression was a universal problem for African Americans: “I was shocked to see some of the most important men of the town quite tipsy…something we could not see …show more content…
As the secret of Omelas, the child is condemned by Omelas to carry the weight of all misery and pain for the community: “…the child…has not always lived in the tool room…can remember sunlight and its mother's voice…” (Jackson 5). Remembering its happy past, the child suffers even more than if it didn’t remember anything. What is intriguing is how the child is referred to “it”, emphasizing the child’s status as an object instead of a being with rights. For some, they don’t approve of imprisoning the child, so they walk away from Omelas forever: “Each alone they go west or north, towards the mountains…They leave Omelas…and they do not come back. The place they go towards is a place even less imaginable to most of us than the city of happiness” (Le Guin 7). Although they refuse to remain silent and ignorant, they must spend the rest of their lives somewhere unknown and hold a sense of personal responsibility of wishing to change a situation they cannot. Now, they embrace guilt and personal torment as part of their consciousness in their new

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