The Lottery Sacrifice

Throughout the course of society, people have had to make sacrifices to get what they desire. In the two short stories “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula Le Guin, the people in the town sacrifice one person to fulfill their desire for happiness. Their sacrificing processes have many similarities and differences including the feelings of the townspeople, the thoughts and actions of the scapegoat, and the cost and benefits of the sacrifices. The sacrifices greatly impact the two towns.

Each town has a reason why they do human sacrifices. It leads to rewards and benefits for the whole town, but the sacrifices don 't come free, they have costs too. In “The Lottery”, the sacrifice is a tradition that

Their feelings are based on the sacrifices. In “The Lottery”, the town considers the sacrifice as a tradition that must occur. They have in every year and everyone is okay with the process until they’re the ones who are getting sacrificed. Old man Warner says he has been a part of the sacrifice for 77 years; it’s just a way of life to him and by this point, he doesn’t think anything of the lottery (Jackson 5). On the other hand, some towns members are skittish and gather in small groups to talk about the lottery as well as other community things. The townspeople in the lottery are accepting of the sacrifice. They see it as a necessary part of life, but they do have an awareness that they have a chance of being the chosen one. In “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”, the townspeople are aware of the scapegoat in the town but they feed off of his suffering. Most of them don’t care that one person is suffering just so they can be happy. They are selfish. All they care about is themselves. However there are a few people in the town that have compassion for the boy. They can’t sabotage the whole town so they end up walking away and leaving the town. These people aren 't much better than the ones who stay. If they know the cruelty of what is going on then why won’t they do something about it, rather than just leaving (Le Guin 4)? That doesn 't solve anything. In both towns you have this problem; People feeding off of another person’s suffering. The town is okay with it too. The people in these towns are cruel. They even get the young children involved in the sacrificing process. The leaders in the town try to say the sacrifices will lead to a utopian society but having to sacrifice people to gain happiness is far from being utopian. Don’t trust the people in these towns, especially if you have a chance of being the