In the short stories “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula LeGuin, the authors consider their society as a utopia and believe sacrifice is the only way for it to remain a utopian society. The similarities and differences of the sacrifice of the two short stories consists of the type of society, the types of government, and how relates to the modern society.
In “The Lottery,” their believes that without sacrifice is the only way to obtain livelihood. It is the only way to have food and to prevent a community wide famine. They choose to do a “lottery” because it randomly chooses a person out of the entire community to sacrifice their lives at a random pick which is much like modern day society and how people are chosen at random ny the card/number they get to win a certain amount of money. “Used to be a saying about ‘Lottery in june, corn be heavy soon’” (Jackson 4). In “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” they also believe that sacrifice is essential to life. In their society happiness, …show more content…
In ‘The Lottery, Mr. Summers seems to have most of the responsibility and power in this society. He gives out orders/tasks to those around him to prepare for the lottery. He, among possibly many others, believes that sacrifice is essential and that it is the only plan to live and be happy. “The Lottery was conducted--as were the square dances, the teen club, the halloween program--ny Mr. Summers” (Jackson 1). In “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” it suggest that the rules for the sacrifice are my by people in charge of the society that make the rules for the sacrifices that take place in their society. “The terms are strict and absolute; there may not even be a kind word spoken to the child” (LeGuin 4). Each of the society’s “government” have made rules/guidelines for the sacrifices and make them clear to their society of what the sacrifice is