Ty Jones
English 111 N9
Mrs. McEwen
10/20/2014
The Similarities of Sacrifice and Traditional Thinking People living in all societies across the world go accordingly with sacrifices and traditional ways of thinking. Whether it’s coming from a hierarchy such as government, an elder council, or association, its breed into people to act a certain way to make living in the society not to stray from a particular norm. In the stories “The Lottery” and “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” both stories display how characteristics like sacrifice and traditional thinking can set the tone for the way the town wants to be lived by using the characteristics as guides to live by. Both stories display a purpose for believing what their societies do whether it’s frowned upon or not, so the town can prosper. An explanation will present a comparison of how both towns deal with these key factors of life. For anyone living in a society like today, it does have to have a majority rule concept for anything to continue regardless of the issue at hand. As it will be further explained, both societies illustrate how the two common factors justified the living order on how to go about living life. People just fail to realize it only takes one voice to make a major difference in life whether it’s in reality or fiction. The stories “The Lottery” and “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” there is a similar use of sacrifice at the sake of a human life. In “The Lottery,” the author expressed how the society believed that the town would have population control by stoning one member of the town. The quote “It isn’t fair, it isn’t right,” Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her,” proves how this particular town is encouraging for full participation from all the towns people to take part in the ritual of murdering a human life (para 26). Jackson gave additional proof by writing, “The children had stones already. And someone gave little Davy Hutchinson few pebbles,” which lets the reader know that even the children were expected to be involved (para 26). The story, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”, expressed a similar mindset by the town was demonstrated by LeGuin. The story tells of a belief if one child is kept in an inhumane manner, that all terrible things will avoid the town. LeGuin writes, “They all understand that 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, depend wholly on this child’s abominable misery,” illustrating how the town solely relied on the diminishing welfare of the child for a sense of happiness among them (para 6). By committing these rituals, each town believes there will be efficient prep for future utopia like environments by involving the children. In any community, the children are the future for how living in a particular place sets precedence for how it’s going to be in years to come. Each town in the short stories show by committing such a sacrifice, that it’s so the living order they’re currently living will remain the same. By desiring not wanting to live differently, each town feels like there is control and order as long as they keep the sacrifice alive. Shirley Jackson shows this concept in “The Lottery” by stating, “First thing you know, we’d all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns. There’s always been a lottery, he added petulantly. Bad enough to see young Joe Summers up there joking with everybody,” (para 16). The quote leads the reader to believe the town would not have progress and actually have regression if the immolation wasn’t completed. LeGuin offers this same concept in “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by writing, “It is the existence of the child, and their knowledge of its existence, that makes possible the nobility of their architecture, the poignancy of their music, the profundity of their