Similarities Between The Lottery And The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas

According to Martin Luther King Jr, “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable. Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; The tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.” The Lottery and The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas are two very accurate depictions of this quote. Both gained popularity through their surprising endings that leave the reader speechless. The Lottery tells the tale of a small village. Once every year (June 27th), each citizen of the village must draw from a box a slip of paper. If one’s paper has a black dot on it, the “lottery” is then repeated in that individual’s family. Whoever draws the slip with the black dot on it this time is stoned to death

by the rest of the villagers. The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas portrays a city that is guaranteed happiness. This happiness is guaranteed only if one child of the city is locked up and is to live their entire life in absolute misery. Although both short stories share a lesson of social sacrifice, the two readings share similarities and differences in their social contracts, their perceptions of the greater good, and the nature of their human sacrifices.
A social contract is an agreement among the members of a society to cooperate for social benefits by sacrificing some sort of individual freedom in exchange for protection.

In both stories, a single person is sacrificed for the greater good of the society. In The Lottery, Tessie Hutchinson is the one sacrificed. In The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, the unnamed boy is the sacrifice. Also, both stories sacrifice’s do not have a say in their self-offering. Tessie Hutchens just happened to be the unfortunate person with the dotted paper. In Omelas, the unnamed boy was chosen by complete random. The social contracts of both stories clearly

overlap.
There were differences between the two social contracts as well. Mr. Summers, ironically his name being the same season as the Lottery, is the conductor of the Lottery and all of its procedures. Mr. Summers is in charge of the box, the slips for the citizens, and overseeing the Lottery making sure all procedures are followed thoroughly. In Omelas, there is no authority figure telling the citizens to how to act or think of the boy. Their social contract is simply understood by the people and is chosen to be strictly followed. If one does not agree with the contract, they leave Omelas.
The perceptions of the greater good is similar in both stories. Each story believes their sacrifices are necessary for their communities as a whole. Old Man Warner, from the Lottery, heard Mrs. Adams say, “Some places have already quit lotteries.” He responded with, “Nothing but trouble in that. Pack of young fools.” In Omelas, anyone who even sees the child treats it poorly or does not do anything at all. The citizens of this utopian society believe that the child’s misery equates to the rest of society’s happiness.
Although both stories’ characters believe the sacrifices are necessary for the community, their motives are not the same.

The village of The Lottery clearly has their sacrifice for something related with the amount of food needed to support the community. Old Man Warner stated, “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon. First thing you know, we’d be all eating stewed chickweed and acorns.” If this village needs to sacrifice someone in the name of food, it is highly likely the communities of The Lottery suffered through an extreme famine. In Omelas, the motive for sacrifice is the happiness of its people. Being a utopian society, the sacrifice of the child equates to a thriving society with zero despair. If Omelas is willing to enslave a child for its entire life for the happiness of others, one can only assume there was a time in Omelas past of extreme

bloodshed.
Even though the nature of each stories’ sacrifice are both cruel, they differ drastically. In The Lottery, rocks are thrown at Tessie Hutchins until she is dead. Children of the village even help in the murder of the woman. As painful and terrifying of a death this sounds, Tessie’s suffering is quick compared to the suffering of the boy in Omelas. While Tessie dies, the unnamed boy is to suffer for his entire life. The child is locked in a closet and only visited when people wish to see him (they must treat him poorly when they see him due to the contract). The child sits naked in dirt and its own excrement twenty-four hours a day. It is fed only half a bowl of cornmeal a day. Lastly, the child pleas less and less for help due to increasing isolation and depression. Compared to death by stoning, the life of the child is about as cruel of a sacrifice you could ever force someone to give.
The Lottery and The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas teach us lessons on the ethics of social sacrifice. This makes us question our own society. What are we sacrificing? Can we live with it? The similarities and differences of the stories’ social contracts, their perceptions of the greater good, and the nature of their sacrifices help us ask these questions about ourselves.