In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and Ursela Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omela’s,” sacrifice is the main thing that keeps each town happy and comfortable. Both pieces revolve around the suffering of one person to improve the quality of lives to many in their towns. Each town finds it necessary to have a scapegoat to do harm to an innocent citizen as a sacrifice to benefit and ease all. The communities can continue on their traditions as long as the individual’s well-being is sacrificed for the good of many. Even though both of the stories people seem joyful, in reality, they depend on others pain. Succumbing to societal pressures, the uses of a scapegoat, and the sacrifice of an innocent person for the sake of tradition, are themes
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Unlike “The Lottery,” some of the towns’ people actually walk away from the town after watching the child who is being forced to live in horrible conditions, as a sacrifice for the city. The child is covered in its own excrement, half-starved, and is shown off to anyone who wishes to see it. It is influenced that no one is to speak kind words to the child. The societal pressure that caused the trapping of a child in a closet happens because the town believes if this did not take place then all of their peace and comfort would no longer exist. Like society today, we all turn away from something horrible just to keep ourselves happy and content. The ones who break social pressure and end up walking away are the ones who are not able to justify the sacrifice of a human being. A purpose of “The Lottery” is to choose someone as a scapegoat in order to insure a bountiful harvest. The town needs a scapegoat to represent that a non-productive member takes no place of society and must be sacrificed. By having a scapegoat, everyone would have relief that the upcoming year would not have to be worried about. Mrs. Hutchinson becomes the sacrificial victim but pushes that the lottery was not fairly done. She even tries to use her daughter, who has been told to draw with her husband’s family, …show more content…
The child is sacrificed so that “other citizens of Omelas can live in happiness and peace” (LeGuin 260). The suffering of the child that is trapped in darkness is what the citizen’s use as a scapegoat to ensure the happiness of their lives. Le Guin writes, "If it were cleaned and fed and comforted, that would be a good thing, indeed; but if it were done, in that day and hour all the prosperity and beauty and delight of Omelas would wither and be destroyed. Those are the terms." (261). Since a scapegoat takes the blame for actions of others, the child is supposed to be the one who is sacrificed for all bad things that would happen. The child makes it so the town appears to be perfect from the outside, but is actually hides its flaws through using a scapegoat of a tiny
Unlike “The Lottery,” some of the towns’ people actually walk away from the town after watching the child who is being forced to live in horrible conditions, as a sacrifice for the city. The child is covered in its own excrement, half-starved, and is shown off to anyone who wishes to see it. It is influenced that no one is to speak kind words to the child. The societal pressure that caused the trapping of a child in a closet happens because the town believes if this did not take place then all of their peace and comfort would no longer exist. Like society today, we all turn away from something horrible just to keep ourselves happy and content. The ones who break social pressure and end up walking away are the ones who are not able to justify the sacrifice of a human being. A purpose of “The Lottery” is to choose someone as a scapegoat in order to insure a bountiful harvest. The town needs a scapegoat to represent that a non-productive member takes no place of society and must be sacrificed. By having a scapegoat, everyone would have relief that the upcoming year would not have to be worried about. Mrs. Hutchinson becomes the sacrificial victim but pushes that the lottery was not fairly done. She even tries to use her daughter, who has been told to draw with her husband’s family, …show more content…
The child is sacrificed so that “other citizens of Omelas can live in happiness and peace” (LeGuin 260). The suffering of the child that is trapped in darkness is what the citizen’s use as a scapegoat to ensure the happiness of their lives. Le Guin writes, "If it were cleaned and fed and comforted, that would be a good thing, indeed; but if it were done, in that day and hour all the prosperity and beauty and delight of Omelas would wither and be destroyed. Those are the terms." (261). Since a scapegoat takes the blame for actions of others, the child is supposed to be the one who is sacrificed for all bad things that would happen. The child makes it so the town appears to be perfect from the outside, but is actually hides its flaws through using a scapegoat of a tiny