The first story, The Lottery, is about a weird tradition in a town. A person from each family picks a piece of paper from the box and if it is blank then they are safe, but if it has a black dot on it they are to be sacrificed. It is also mentioned that they thought about changing the box because the one they had was breaking, but decided not to. This story emphasizes the role of traditions in society and even when it seems easy for someone to step in and make a change, it isn’t.
The Omelas had the same type of theme. In this story there is a society that is very peaceful and happy. However, this is only due to the fact that there is a young boy suffering and being abused. Everyone knows about him, but they think that their society runs so well because of his suffering. Similarly to The Lottery, to us it seems simple for someone to step in and stand up for the boy. The tradition and superstition is so ingrained in their minds that they are not capable of seeing the truth.
I agree with you that the traditions and superstitions seem as if they are an essential part of society that cannot be overturned. I think we can apply the concepts of dissent and groupthink to challenge “lotteries”– how can we speak up against inequality? I think we can apply this to Zinn’s work on slavery as well– slavery was “essential” to the American tradition and economy, but how can we overturn it?
The Lottery seems like a twisted hybrid of the plots of “The Hunger Games” and “The Purge”. It amazes me how the entire society of the Omelas experienced utopic sentiment at the expense of a child as if he was an ultimate sacrifice.
I agree that the Lottery had an underlying theme of tradition. I think it is significant that the person who started to raise objections was the one sacrificed because I think it shows that people who stray away from tradition or attempt to make a social change are ostracized and eliminated in order to keep the facade going.
It goes to undermine the “means to an end” idea. Is it worth someone else’s pain for us to be happy. It makes me think about sweat shops. In the US we wear a lot of brands knowing that they were not obtained in the most humane ways but it is the norm so we continue to allow it.
Is it that they are not able to see the truth of the child or do they just not care? I think that they just dont know any other way of smooth sailing so they go along with it.