While reading the beginning of “The Lottery”, I was not at all expecting the last part where they stoned her. I kind of got some foreshadowing of something bad happening to whoever drew the “correct” paper when Tessie originally began to complain about Bill not receiving enough time to pick a slip of paper and when the girl whispered that she hoped it wouldn’t be Nancy. Therefore, I disagree with whoever wrote the response/summary article B because they claim that the only surprise was the stones and not the act of execution, while I think the entire execution of Tessie and the dark manner of it was surprising. Another surprising aspect was how willing and able the villagers were to stoning her; almost immediately after the crowd knew she was the one to be stoned, her friends and their children were hitting her with the stones without hesitation. It shows how deeply-rooted tradition can become to the point where immoral acts like murder become mindless action, without thought to how it will affect those around them.
Similar to the first story, “The ones who walk away from Omelas” tells the story of the brutal abandonment and horrible life of one child in order to maintain the happiness of the rest of the city. I’ve read this before, and it still makes me angry but it demonstrates, like “The Lottery”, how once a tradition or ideology is imbedded into society, the chances of it becoming unrooted or people going against are so slim. It shows how that this ritual or concept will lead to mindless action, like ignoring the child’s existence and not speaking to the child at all, which then furthers the ideology and continues to harm people.
Kind of maybe a stretch but I think these stories are creating an analogy to slavery, in the way that white people became so mindlessly blind and ignorant to the suffering and pain that the slaves endured and continued to create all of these laws and rules to maintain their happiness and “balance”, when in reality, if they spoke to the slaves or were empathetic to them (like how those who left understood the horror of what Omelas was doing to that child), they could’ve seen the damage they were doing and created an equal society from the beginning.
I think your analogy is interesting and makes some sense. When people who are not experiencing any type of oppression are told that something is happening to other people, they can’t understand exactly how it is impacting their lives and they can turn a blind eye easier because they do not truly get the importance. It is very wrong and sad and these stories definitely show how humans tend to just go along with things as long as it isn’t hindering their own lives.