Two words that almost always go together. When you have conformity, you get rebellion, and when there is rebellion, it's always against conformity. Which of these two actions is better? It all depends on the situation. In "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" and "The Lottery", we find many examples of both conformity and rebellion taking place. Many times, rebellion takes place only when the person rebelling is trying to escape their own problems, as can be seen in these stories. .
In "Omelas", by Ursula K. Le Guin, an idea of a perfect place is presented. The people of this community seem to have everything they wished for. They have peace, unity, and happiness. It seems as all is well with them. Then their dark secret is presented. A child is being kept prisoner in a basement in an unknown location. The child is tortured and starved, but kept alive so it will continue to be tortured and starved. Everyone in the community knows about this child, and they know that by allowing this child to be treated like this, they are ensuring their own happiness. Some people do walk away from the community, no doubt from the effects this has on their consciousness, but no one chooses to do anything to help this child. They feel as though they are rebelling against this rule, but by not doing anything to help this child, they are only really escaping their feelings of guilt. .
Next is "The Lottery", by Shirley Jackson. Again in this story, a seemingly perfect community is introduced. Everyone is gathering around for a tradition that takes place every year here. The people seem excited and anxious about this event. The children are in the front playing, and the adults are all talking amongst themselves. The event then starts and names begin to be called out. Everyone takes a turn going up to the front and picking out a piece of paper from a box. When everyone opens their paper, one person gets one with a small black dot on it.
