In reading, Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery", written in 1948, and Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" written in 1975. Both stories begin with themes of peace and harmony among families in a given society. In reality they turn out to be total acts of inhumanity and cruelty taking place in these stories. Although the stories are similar in certain aspects, there are three important differences in the two stories, such as their theme, sacrifice, and action.
             In " The Lottery" the author's main focus is to allow the reader to become aware that there is one person who will be sacrificed, which in reality is to take the burden of society to allow the rest of the village to live in contentment. The people in this village know that the significance of the lottery means death, but for the sake of a great harvest year, the villagers will ignore the innocent life of a human being and continue with the lottery. Since the villagers believe that the crop symbolizes livelihood for the people, they then assume this crop will bring prosperity for the entire town. In contrast, in, " The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas", the authors main focal point is that utopia can be a mixture of brutalness in a society were political principles are a way of life in a societies main beliefs and values, which is being in full utopia based upon the misery of one child. Moreover, having moral values holds true in this story because some citizens were aware that the mistreatment of a child had taken place, but refused to give up happiness. Where as some people experienced the child and his living conditions, and then decided to take on a strong act of defiance and leave Omelas forever.
             In addition, there was no action taken on the part of the villagers from the lottery. They were in total acceptance of the drawing, even though the significance of the black box meant death for one family m...