The Darker Side of Paradise

The imprisoned child in Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” and the tradition of stoning to death a person every year on the basis of a random draw in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” both hold symbolic meanings pertaining to the extent of cruelty and indifference humans would be willing to inflict upon another in order to preserve their “happiness” or accustomed way of life. Le Guin relies upon the symbolic character of the captive child who in its suffering inspires solidarity and well being among the people of Omelas. Jackson on the other hand makes use of the symbolic act of stoning a random person every year based on a lottery in the belief that it would bring more crop as a mockery of outdated and unsubstantiated beliefs and practices that some people still uphold in the name of tradition. While the two authors differ in the spatial and sequential settings of their stories, they unite in the fact that they both come up with accurate social commentaries that hold as much legitimacy now, as they did back when they were written.

The citizens of Omelas were cultured, happy and guilt free. They were everything we would like to be. “They did not use swords, or keep slaves” (Le Guin, 232), thus they were peaceful and equal an almost utopian goal for our world to even imagine let alone reach. Also if that weren’t enough, they had a non-addictive hallucinogenic drug called “drooz” and beautiful nude priests/priestesses walking around readily available to any willing indulger. However, the secret behind their perfect lives is the suffering of a young boy who they had confined and left to drown in his own excreta. The child here symbolizes suffering in the world. Like the people of Omelas who have “come to see it” or have “remained content merely to know it is there” we too have seen or are aware of the suffering around us. Third world countries are exploited for their resources and labor so that Wal-mart can sell us cheap goods. However, like the people of Omelas, we too would be abandoning happiness acquired through consumption if we tried to bring out the exploited countries “into the sunlight” (Le Guin, 235). The improvement in the conditions of these countries would mean to forsake cheap commodities, which would mean sacrificing the consumption driven happiness that is so prominent in today’s world, “that would be to let guilt within the walls indeed” (Le Guin, 235).

On the other hand, “The Lottery” portrays a society very much like our own. The children gather stones, the men chat about “planting and rain, tractors and taxes” (Jackson, 238) very much like we would. The mysterious black box and the lottery in the story could symbolize a variety of things in our society. The box’s opaqueness and the randomness of the lottery could be representing the justice system that creates laws determining who can or cannot be a part of society. Or it could just be representing our sheer distaste of change in the face of inertia of habit as Old Man Warner says, “There’s always been a lottery” (Jackson, 241). It could also be merely a human tendency to seek out external suffering in order to preserve our own well being like the people of Omelas. The discomfort towards change is apparent in the refusal of even replacing the “shabby”, “splintered” box. It almost serves as a symbol of unity for the villagers, maybe even a source of identity.

So we see that the people of Omelas, so much more advanced than us as a society, yet still prey to the reliance upon somebody else’s suffering for their own well being. The child’s suffering invokes a multitude of emotions in the youthful voyeurs, even emotions of “anger, outrage, impotence” (Le Guin, 235). But gradually most of them come to terms with the necessity of the child’s suffering as something that is needed for them to realize that they too are not free, but must choose to by happy. But if they know that much why does it still need to continue? Its habit again, and change is always very uncomfortable. The way they convince themselves of the child’s fate by reasoning that because it has been in confinement so long that “it would not get much good of its freedom” and that “it is too degraded and imbecile to know any real joy” (Le Guin, 235), is very similar to how we would possibly convince ourselves of the suffering going around the world so that we can go about our daily lives. If we carry the burden of the world on our shoulders it becomes impossible to get anything done. However, the ones who walk away from Omelas symbolize, the out casts of our society. The drunks, the junkies, the hippies and so forth that don’t like what they see, are aware that they cant change anything, and thus just decide to get as far away as they can.

While the people of Omelas still have an explanation to the confinement and torture of the child, the people of the village have lost track of the context and reasons behind the ritual of the lottery. One old man claims that the “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.” However, it is mentioned that many of the customs involving the lottery has been changed or completely lost over time. For example people remembered that there used to be a chant that was performed before the ritual, which wasn’t anymore. Similarly, the wooden tokens were replaced by pieces of paper for the lottery. However, as support to my argument that this symbolizes peoples inherent need to externalize suffering for their own well being is the fact that “Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones (Jackson, 244). People adapt things that serve to their interest. It seems like misfortunes such as catastrophes, wars, famines, etc. are events that unify people. The existence of the lottery as well as the existence of the boy serves to divert the peoples discontent, anger and intolerance of one another towards an externalized entity that keeps society turning in on itself and imploding.

Its almost like saying we need to be capable of committing evil acts in order to embrace goodness. Life without any difficulties would be dull. If Omelas were heaven, its citizenry would its doors if they were to be locked within and would look for a wall to jump over immediately. So instead they imprisoned a helpless child in the vilest of conditions they could, so that they could be reminded of how better off they were and thus be satisfied. If all conflicts were resolved, if everyone was satisfied and the world became a bowl of utopian soup, we’d become soggy pieces of toast; tasteless and ruined. The conflicts and unsatisfied longings give us reason to live, to act, to achieve… minus them and all that’d remain is boredom. What meaning would love retain if it were so easily accomplished? A visit to the nearest whorehouse would be sufficient. It’s interesting to note how people complain about the very things that give meaning to their lives. Pain confirms existence.