Standing on the sideline and just stand there and watch something bad happening. To be a specta-tor and take a distance to the wrong thing what is happening. Just standing there as a spectator, without taking any action without doing anything and being just as responsible as the per-son/persons committing the bad thing. In the two short stories: ‘The Lottery’ and ‘The Ones Who Walks Away From Omelas’, we see spectators who doesn’t take any action, and just look away from all the bad thing happening in their town. When you compare the two stories and look and the atmosphere, characters, and the theme you will see the similarities and the difference be-tween the two short stories.

Both short stories begin with a harmonious setting and atmosphere. They both begin with descrip-tion of a beautiful summer day. “The flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green” - The Lottery, p. 25 l. 4-5. “Old moss-grown gardens and under avenues of trees,” - The Ones Who Walks Away From Omelas, p.35 l. 5. The setting and the atmosphere is very peacefully in both stories, and you get the impression that the life in the town in both stories are in harmony. But then the atmosphere changes in the lottery it happens when we are introduced to the black box the people from the town are all scared of what is going to happen, and whose name will be drawn from the black box. In the end all the children are excited about stoning the person who was drawn from the black box. In Omelas we first experience an atmosphere change, when we are told about the little child in the basement, who is being sacrificed. At the beginning in both stories we don’t sense that these bad things are happening in the two towns. The beautiful setting and atmosphere described at first is just a façade and behind that façade bad things are happening and the harmonious towns aren’t harmonious at all.

The people in the two towns seem at the beginning to be happy, and nothing seems to be wrong. A difference between the two stories is that in The Lottery there are specific persons and specific characters with names and descriptions of them, and in The Ones Who Walks Away From Omelas there are no names on the characters, they are much more “closed” we don’t know much about them, they all seem similar.
The citizens of Omelas are described by the narrator as happy people. They are, as mentioned be-fore, similar people and people with no names. The life and the town are described as a ‘fairytale’. But one person, a little child who is kept in misery and darkness, is the main reason for the happi-ness, peace and balance in the town. The child is the reason why people are happy and successful. Their happiness could not be without the misery of one. “They all know it is there”- p. 39 l. 17. The citizens of Omelas all know that this child is in the cellar, kept in darkness. As the narrator says: "To praise despair is to condemn delight,” p. 36 l. 40. The citizens of Omelas choose to enjoy their happiness and great life and condemning the child in its misery. Some citizens choose to leave the city when they see the child and find out that their happiness is because of someone other’s mis-ery.
The citizens in the Lottery all seem happy at first, and they get together to see this Lottery as a steady tradition/ritual. The citizens knows that one of them will be stoned, and that is why the atmosphere is a little bit depressed, but they also want someone to be sacrificed so they can get a good harvest and be happy. One of the citizens, Mrs. Dunbar, hesitates because she can’t make herself throw stones at Tessie, who was the one, getting drawn from the black box.
The children are important in both short stories. In The Lottery the children are happy and playing: “…they tended to gather together quietly for a while before they broke into boisterous play.” p.26 l. 7-8. And in Omelas the children also are happy. “Children dodged in and out, their high calls rising like the swallows' crossing flights over music and the singing.” p. 36 l. 1-2. So in both short stories the children are used as a symbol of happiness and harmony in the towns. And the children are thought and raised to continue on with these traditions in the towns. In The Lottery, the parents learn the children to through pebbles “The children had stones already. And someone gave little Davy Hutchinson few pebbles.” - p. 32 l. 27-28. In Omelas the one being sacrificed is a child, and is the reason for happiness, but the other children are introduced to the child, “This is usually explained to children when they are between eight and twelve, whenever they seem capable of understanding.” p. 39 l. 25-26.

Sacrifices have been made several times through the years. For many years ago when we were Vi-kings we sacrificed a person to honour god, so he would treat us well. Back then it was normal. Now we do not sacrifice others so that we can have a good life. But in these two short stories the citizens are willing to sacrifice others just to get their happiness, because their happiness couldn’t be without the misery of one. In Omelas the little child is being sacrificed, but some people, when they see the boy they choose to leave the town. They are sensible and they don’t want to be happy with the misery of one. They also don’t want to carry on the ritual. In The Lottery Mrs. Dunbar does not want to throw stones at Tessie. She also does not like the ritual in her town.

To sum up, sacrificing plays a big role in the two towns. Someone has to be sacrificed so the other citizens can be happy, that is the ritual and tradition in the town. This ritual and tradition is some-thing that the citizens wants to be carried on by the children, that is why the show and tell them about it and get the children involved very early. But not every citizen likes the rituals, in Omelas people leave and in The Lottery Mrs. Dunbar doesn’t like to throw stones at Tessie. The two towns seemed at first very harmonious, but it was just a façade, because under the façade there are citi-zens who are willing to sacrifice other so they can be happy. The citizens all chooses to be specta-tor to these sacrifices and just let it continue forever, instead of doing something about it and end it.