Comparisonof “the Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” and “the...

Essay I: Short Fiction In â€Å"The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas† and â€Å"The Lottery†, Ursula Le Guin and Shirley Jackson depict a seemingly perfect society built on dark secrets. In the story, â€Å"The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas†, Omelas is a utopian city of happiness and delight, whose inhabitants are smart and cultured. Everything about Omelas is pleasing, except for the secret of the city: the good fortune of Omelas requires that a single unfortunate child be kept in perpetual filth, darkness and misery, and that all its citizens should be told of this when they come of age. After being exposed to the truth, most of the people of Omelas are initially shocked and disgusted, but are ultimately able to come to terms with the fact and†¦show more content†¦It lives on only a â€Å"half-bowl of corn meal and grease a day† and is covered in festered sores from where it’s repeatedly sat in its own excrement. The author also goes on to tell of how once the children are old enough to understand, between 8 and 12, they are told of what is happening and why. In the story it says, â€Å"Some of them understand why, and some do not, 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 childs abominable misery.† This quote means that the child must live in retched conditions for the rest of the people to live happy lives; that if the child wasn’t living in misery that they wouldn’t be able to understand and appreciate the happiness in their lives. â€Å"The Lottery† also depicts a wonderful and pleasing New England village. The day is depicted to be bright, with fragrant flowers and green lawns. The children are fidgety and boisterous do to the ending of school for the summer. The story talks about the children and what they’re doing while they wait for the adults to gather, â€Å"Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones,† the act of gathering stones seems like