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Katherine Watson
WR 121
Final Draft
A Tale of Two Cities
Depending on the situation, your lifestyle, and the choices that you make persuades what direction your life will go. Many times it can also be influenced by where you live and what the religions, rituals and beliefs are of that area. In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” it is about a small city where it is a ritual to participate in a lottery drawing on June 27th every year. Everyone in the town has to draw a slip and the one person that gets the black dot gets stoned by the townspeople. In the story, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin the happiness of city is dependent only on the abuse and neglect of a child. Both short stories have a very deep meaning, yet in Le Guin’s story the meaning is hidden behind all the descriptive and colorful language. However in Jackson’s story everything is laid out in a step by step narrative. The characters both the children and the adults play a major role in both stories and the society seems to believe they can sacrifice one person for the happiness or joy of many.
There was someone tortured or killed in both stories, one was forced and one was willing to sacrifice herself for her town. The child in Le Guin’s piece was tortured at the young age of almost 10. The story describes the child as: “It is so thin there are no calves to its legs; its belly protrudes; it lives on a half-bowl of corn meal and grease a day.” (Le Guin 258-59). How could the people in the city just stand by and let this poor child suffer? Yet in Jackson’s piece as Mrs. Hutchinson was about to be stoned she was screaming “It isn’t fair, it isn’t right.” (Jackson 324). To me this shows her in kind of a selfish way, she was fine with this ritual until she was the chosen one, she also knew she had to for the town but she was very unhappy about it. The child in The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas was forced into being tortured, he had no choice in the matter. It was stated that, “The terms were strict and absolute; there may not even be a kind word spoken to the child.” (Le Guin 259).
There was definitely a society in both stories who was willing to sacrifice one for many. For instance in “Omelas” they sacrificed the child, “…but 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.” (Le Guin 259). However, in Jackson’s tale when the person was stoned it was so the harvest would be blessed. So not really for the happiness of everyone but for plentiful harvest and work for everyone.
How were the children affected by all of this you may wonder? In The Lottery, once school was out for the summer: “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones” (Jackson 317). Also once Tessie had been chosen as the one to be stoned, “The children had stones already, and gave little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles.” (Jackson 324). He was given pebbles so that he could participate in the stoning of his mother. Can you imagine being forced to help stone your own mother? Then in Le Guin’s tale, the torture of the child and what it portrays “is usually explained to children when they are between eight and twelve, whenever they seem capable of understanding; and most of those who come to see the child are young people.” (Le Guin 259). So whether they want to know or not every child is forced to hear what the city does and there is nothing that can be done about it. Children and families in The Lottery were definitely not against the stoning, as we saw from the story they spent their time collecting the best stones. As where the ones in Omelas “feel anger, outrage, and impotence, despite all the explanations.” (Le Guin 259). I think they feel that way because they know there is nothing that they can do about it, or their happiness will be destroyed.
These two short stories can be interpreted many different ways, but as I see both stories had a person who was afflicted. The societies definitely had the thought process that one to be sacrificed for everyone‘s happiness, joy or well being was not a bad thing. Some of the people were forced in to how they were acting, and some were willing or knew ahead of time what to expect. Of course the children were affected by what was going on, what we do as adults definitely plays a role in our children’s lives. What is done by a town or city or by the rulers or authority of a place can also influence what happens.Works Cited:
Le Guin, Ursula K. “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.” An Introduction to Fiction. 6th ed. Eds. X.J Kennedy and Dana Gioia. New York: Harper Collins, 1995. 255-60.
Jackson, Shirley “The Lottery.” Patterns for College Writing: A Rhetorical Reader and Guide. 10th ed. Eds. Laurie G Kirzner and Stephen R Mandell. Boston: Bedford/St Martins, 2007. 317-24
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