Symbolism and Its Significance in Omelas and The Lottery

This essay examines the use of symbolism in literature, specifically analyzing its application in Ursula Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" and Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery." The essay explores how symbolism, through character actions and narrative elements, conveys deeper meanings about societal issues, morality, and tradition. In "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas," the author symbolizes injustice, selfishness, and inhumanity through the suffering of a child, while also highlighting the varying responses of the citizens. Conversely, "The Lottery" uses the villagers' actions and unquestioning adherence to a destructive tradition to symbolize the dangers of blindly following rituals without critical evaluation. Both stories underscore the importance of individual morality, critical thinking, and the potential consequences of societal norms. The essay also references Chadwick's work on symbolism to support its arguments.

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Symbolism
The symbolism in literature is a widely used practice in the literature. Using symbol, the deeper
meanings are expressed in writings (Chadwick 35). In these cases, the symbol is used in two
ways. Firstly, it can be represented by a figure of speech in which a person, object or situation
reflects different significance other than the literal one. The symbolism can also be represented
by the actions of a character in literature. In this case, the actions or words of the character add a
deeper meaning to the context. The stories “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” and “The
Lottery” are two such literary works where symbolism is used extensively. The discussion
focuses on analysing the symbolism used in these stories.
In the story “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”, Ursula Le Guin, symbolizes the
injustice, selfishness and the inhumanity through a child and the way it is being treated. As
indicated in the story, the child was kept in the dark to maintain the prosperity of the city. It is an
act of inhumanity and injustice. The story also indicates that most of the citizens accepted the
treatment to the child. It represents selfishness as the citizens have not considered the wellbeing
of the child for their interest. The act also indicates that individuals have not used their morality

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for being prosperous. However, the latter part of the story indicates that some of the citizens
were able to distinguish between right and wrong. So, they left the city instead of supporting the
cruel act towards the child. It represents that every member of society knows moral behaviour.
However, often they are unwilling to go against the social norms despite being aware of its
inappropriateness. On the contrary, there are so people who have the courage to speak the truth.
“The Lottery” is another story where Shirley Jackson has represented irrational traditions of the
society using the actions of the villagers. As stated in the story, the villagers arrange a lottery
every year in June. The tradition is being followed every year unquestionably. The villagers do
not know why they perform the same ritual. The lottery box is broken but they do not replace it
as the same box is being used for the generations. The acts of the villagers are completely
irrational as there is no specific reason behind their actions. At the end of the story, the villagers
are about to kill one of them. The actions symbolize the impacts of practising any ritual
unquestionably. In modern society also, many rituals are followed for generations. The people do
not want to evaluate the significance of the rituals but simply support those because their
predecessors also have done the same. In a society, new ideas should be accepted. It leads to
social progress. Having unquestionable faith in the old beliefs cause damage to the society and it
is presented through the incidents mentioned in the story.

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Works Cited
Chadwick, Charles. Symbolism. Routledge, 2017.