


People laugh and are inspired, which gives hope for positive endings. For example, “flowers bloom profusely” at the beginning of “The Lottery,” while the parade in Omelas rushes “between old moss-grown gardens and under avenues of trees,” creating a colorful setting (Jackson para.1, Le Guin para.1).

1).Īt that time, both authors begin stories with a positive description of the villages, creating a pleasant impression of the inhabitants. Le Guin gathers her characters to celebrate “the Festival of Summer,” while in “The Lottery,” the society prepares for the traditional participation in a mysterious lottery (Le Guin para. Hence, Jackson and Le Guin begin their narrations with descriptions of auspicious places that bring people together by a special event. Similar approaches, literary techniques, and the development of plots, which the authors use, can reveal the depressing truth of the essence of life under total control. In the end, despite the differences in the plots, the conflict of the morality of the majority and the sufferings of the units is a red line in the works of both authors. Moreover, Jackson and Le Guin single out one person, namely a woman and a child, as a sacrifice for the welfare of others, describing the agony that these characters have to endure. First of all, both stories reveal the horrors hidden in utopian communities, describing the suffering of the inhabitants and the cruel consequences of their social rules.

Comparison of the “The Lottery” by Jackson and “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Le GuinĪnalysis of the stories written by Jackson and Le Guin allows one to plunge into the seemingly perfect worlds, where everyone becomes a victim of artificially created morality, and find many common ideas. Thus, the dystopian stories written by Jackson and Le Guin suggest exploring the theme of sacrifice, rituals, and controlled norms that provide the imaginary perfection of social order but hide the hopelessness, pain, and absurdity. It describes people who cannot accept the fact that the happiness of the members of their society depends on a child who is forced to suffer cruel torment alone (Le Guin). The other story also reveals the theme of specific rituals that form the morality of the community.
