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Pros And Cons Of Omelas

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Omelas is a dystopian society, that is perfect in every way imaginable, but it can only exist if this one kid is mistreated severely. They lock him or her in a room below a building, do not provide him or her with proper nourishment, and show him or her no affection what so ever. By exploiting one child the city is able to provide thousands with all the “joy” and love they could ever want. Omelas seems to suggest that prosperous countries are built off moral compromise and by dismissing negative thoughts from the psyche people are willing to do this. On a psychological level, people dismiss the idea of the kid suffering to alleviate their guilty conscience to keep the community functioning. It is kind of like a repressed memory. Some …show more content…

Prosperous countries such as England, France, and Spain established many colonies during their imperialistic expansion in the 1800’s. When they would colonize these places, they would enslave the native population in exchange for wealth and crops. By exploiting a few natives on a small island somewhere, these countries were able to boost their economies and power. Just as Omelas took advantage of the one child, these countries would establish control of a small population and use them for a so called ‘greater good.’ Migrant workers are taken advantage of similarly as well. Places like the United States take advantage of a market of people who are desperate for money to support their families; so desperate that they are willing to accept illegally low wages to support them. These migrant workers are much like the child in the cellar. Ursula Guin describes the child as, “becoming imbecile through fear, malnutrition, and neglect.” This could be seen as a parallel between the child and migrant workers/slaves because they were not provided the best living quarters, fed small quantities of food that wouldn’t pass an inspection in the most grueling prisons, and lived in fear of being deported or receiving lashes from their master. By exploiting small groups of people, westernized countries have been able to create a small slice of Omelas within the world for

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