The Lottery By Ursula Leguin: Literary Analysis

“Nobody thinks that they’re evil or bad, they think that they’re doing the right thing.” (Andrew McCarthy) The word ‘moral’ is described as a person’s beliefs concerning what is and what isn’t acceptable for them to do. In these short stories; “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”,“The Lottery”, and “The Yellow Wallpaper” show how people turn a blind eye to the pain for one individual for the idea that is it the greater good of the lives of many. People try to do the right thing for society, but end up doing the wrong thing for the sake of everyone. The short stories use literary terms such as symbolism and setting to connect the main idea to what it’s especially about. “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula LeGuin, setting starts …show more content…
The setting in the story seems like a happy town that can never be bought down. Shirley Jackson states, “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green.” (Jackson 312) The town has taken a part of this tradition for so long that their already for the next year to come around. “Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use the stones.” (Jackson 313) The black box and the stones reveal what the symbols are in the story. The black box has been torn and discolored over the years, and the stones represent how the villagers remember the killings they’ve had for the annual lottery. Without the stones and the black box, the story wouldn’t essentially have the same meaning, these items is what the story truly means which is murder. The tradition the village holds the village together and brings the citizens together. They kill one person to maintain the lives of many. The village may seem like their doing the right thing, but what their taking part in is murder. Murder isn’t morally right, but their tradition can mean