The Lottery 'And The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas'

In “The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson, and “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”, by Ursula LeGuin, the two authors give the idea of sacrifice and that it is the only way to happiness. Through comparing and contrasting, the reader will see the ways in which the two societies go about sacrifice and how it brings happiness. This essay will compare and contrast the two short stories and the ways they are the same in using sacrifice to achieve happiness.
In both “The Lottery” and “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”, a sacrifice or scapegoat, is used throughout the story. A sacrifice is used in both stories to achieve what they perceive to be “happiness”. In both stories everyone participates in the using of a sacrifice and everyone gains happiness from it - all but the sacrifice itself. “There were the lists to make up - of heads of families, heads of households in each family, members of each household in each family.” (Jackson, 1). This quote helps show that every person gets a chance in winning the lottery and how it has a “fair” advantage. “Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original
However, even though both stories compare in the way the citizens handle the using of a sacrifice and how they seem okay with it, there is also a contrast in the reason behind why the way each society came about the idea of a sacrifice. Through the detailed description of the seemingly poor and rich societies, the reader is able to make assumptions as to why the citizens would be okay with the using of a sacrifice. Therefore, both short stories showed the need of a sacrifice for the citizens to live and be happy, and the stories also show a vast difference in each society and its economic set up. This leads to the reasons behind the societies using of a