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

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“The Lottery” and “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” are two short stories that share core and deep meanings. They both have a frightening background and they both seem to start with happy and jolly leads. These two stories will be compared in an analytical and perspective manner. Though a reader can see similarities in the two stories, as they both seem to hold deep hidden meanings behind them, the stories “The Lottery” and “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” are more alike in their viewings, concepts, and traditions.
There are many differences between the two stories “The Lottery” and “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.” One difference that really stand out is the fact that in the story “The Lottery” you can tell the characters had their …show more content…

For one, they both have the happy, ignorant, children playing and enjoying life at the beginning. “School was recently over for the summer, and the feeling of liberty sat uneasily on most of them; they tended to gather together quietly for a while before they broke into boisterous play.” (Jackson par. 2). This was a big mislead throughout the two stories as it seems to get the reader in an equally happy mood while they read through it, until they actually come across the stories sick doings. Another is that they both took place in the season of summer, also signaling happiness and carefreeness. Summer also usually signals the time of freedom since there is no school and they can do whatever they want, and it usually signals the time for new beginnings. The stories also both have amazing detailing to set the mood and tone to give the reader a nice vision of the set and its …show more content…

One of them is their traditions. Their traditions both turns out to be surprising, sick, and twisted. For “The Lottery” it is a black box that literally hold the lives of the villagers. By simply pulling out a piece of paper with a black spot, one of the villagers’ lives can be taken from them by way of stoning from the other villagers. In “The Ones Who Walks Away from Omelas” there is a child instead who is starved and miserable for the town folk of Omelas. “In the room a child is sitting. It could be a boy or a girl. It looks about six, but actually is nearly ten. It is feeble minded. Perhaps it was born defective or perhaps it has become imbecile through fear, malnutrition, and neglect.” (Le Guin Par. 9) Its misery gives the people of Omelas their joy. Just as what the black box does for the village people in “The Lottery” but instead, it is believed to give them their food. “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.” (Jackson par. 13)
The last and final similarity between the stories seem to almost make the reader question things themselves. The reader tends to ask themselves and ponder over the black box and the child. In “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” the reader immediately start to think what the child represents. Another similarity between the two stories is that they believe these superstitions. They believe that doing these things helps their crops grow or helps them to be happy. They believe

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