Blog #4 J.C

GROUP 2

 Q: 6. Consider how “The Ones Who walk away from the Omelas” and “The Lottery” deal with the leadership between individual and society (self-interest VS. the greater good) what does each story seem to argue about this relationship?

After reading “The Ones Who Walk Away From the Omelas” I instantly noticed these both basically share the same plot. The Sequence of events that made up both stories were very similar. Both wanting what’s best for the community, not mattering who or what they had to eliminate. If one must die for the rest, then that is how it must be. In the article “The Lottery”  we learn that June, 27^th is the day a sacrifice must be done, it is an act of sacrifice in order to maintain peace and prosperity for the town “New Hope”. It is a tradition that/ ritual that all residents havd been born into. Felice says she knows what these people do might be wrong, but there is really nothing they can do abot it. It is a tradition of sacrifice. They were born into it. Both of the articles share the same idea; Sacrifice one in order to to sustain the town and all it's resident's prosperity.  Each story seem to argue that in order to have infinite triumph in life there must be someone or something sacrificed.  In “The Ones Who Walk Away From the Omelas” a troubling question I ask is, what did the child do that everyone in that town seem to all want that child’s unhappiness and neglect. That it should be kept away from humanity and locked away. I believe religion and science should not mix. “At times one of the adolescent girls or boys who go see the child does not go home or rage, does not, in fact go home at all.  Night falls; the traveler must pass down village streets between the yellow houses.”  Each alone they go west or north, towards the mountains. They leave Omelas, they walk ahead into the darkness, and they do not come back. In general, “Omelas” residents are doing what the residents of “The Lottery”  do. They in fact sacrifice themselves for the prosperity and the future of its town. Therefore both articles “The Ones Who Walk Away From the Omelas” and “The Lottery” both share the same plot and outcome. Sacrifice one in order to sustain peace and prosperity for the rest.

 

GROUP 1

Q: 3. Read one of the articles on “Omelas” in Blackboard. Summarize the article carefully, then use it to elaborate on your own observations about the text. You should quote the author directly, and be sure to provide some of your own analysis as well (it doesn’t matter whether the article supports your reading or not; you can offer a different perspective.

I decided to read “The Ones Who walk away from the Omelas.”  “As they did without monarchy and slavery, so they also got on without the stock exchange, the advertisement, the secret police, and the bomb.” As result “New Hope” lives in a perfect city. There is no crime or poverty.  Consequently this city lives with the neglect of an innocent child. “In the room, a child is sitting; it could be a boy or a girl. It looks about six, but actually is nearly ten. It is feeble-minded. This is just sickening; to neglect and lock up a child because it is deformed is not right. It is sad to think that some city’s still have the power to do this. I once read in a book from Mexico, that a deformed child is viewed as a sin from Lucifer.