Reflection Of Society Through Literary Devices

The significance of the chosen title for Ursula Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”, is commonly overlooked. Notably foreshadowing, this title introduces the symbolized focal point of the story. When the superficial utopia of Omelas is revealed as a possible genuine dystopia, each citizen, and reader becomes distracted with a moral decision. Three of the limited peer journal essays, available through the Sierra College Library databases, maintain a consistent neglect to examine the possible symbolism of the title and the people who walk away from Omelas. The title, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” is a symbolic metaphor pertaining to an assortment of citizens who, in moral protest of the utopian or else dystopian Omelas, deny any participation of enforced misery by means of suicide.

The short story, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”, written by Ursula Le Guin, is about a so-called perfect society where the sacrifice of a child is what provides harmony, equality, and prosperity to the citizens of this city. As a reader, one is invited to create and visualize their own utopia, so that one is emerged with the reality of a moral dilemma: the happiness of many for the unhappiness of one. The symbol represented in the story reflects current and past society issues such as military sacrifice, slavery, and injustice.

“The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” is an award winning short story that takes place in a utopian society called Omelas. Omelas is described as a beautiful city next to the sparkling sea and full of intelligent and complex people. Underneath the city however there is an underfed, abused child about 10 who is locked in a dark cellar. If people were to say a nice word to the mentally ill, starved child they would lose their entire lavish and happy lifestyle. This story was published in the year 1973, and looking at the history of what was going on in

3. His eyes widened and, accentuated by his __________________________________, you could tell he was sickened by the sight of his wife in the room. 4. The __________________________________ philosophy is to use a practical approach to problems, rather than theories. 5. She __________________________________ conversed with her friend on phone. 6. The room was hidden behind the __________________________________ green curtain. 7. He and his __________________________________ hung out at the bar smoking. 8. He could feel __________________________________ anger building inside himself. Matching: Match the antonym to the vocabulary word. _____ 1. concerned _____ 2. compliant _____ 3. clear, truthful _____ 4. ornate _____ 5. tiny _____ 6. beneficial _____ 7. harmful _____ 8. ideally A. austere B. equivocate C. mulish D. cynically E. benignly F. colossal G. apathetically H. pernicious

Between the stories of “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Poe, and “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” by Ernest Hemingway, the authors are able to control these stories through the use of irony, defined as a “contrast or incongruity between expectations for a situation and what is reality. This can be a difference between the surface meaning of something that is said and the underlying meaning” (http://www.literarydevices.com/irony/). Within these short stories, each author has been able to bring the reader into the story by giving them the opportunity to endure the thoughts and feelings of individual characters which include the taste for revenge, and the bitter truth of a marriage. The way irony is placed into the stories has

“Some people build fences to keep people out...and other people build fences to keep people in” (61). In the play, Fences, by August Wilson who displays how fences symbolize different situations to represent different characters. The story takes place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the 1950’s, and in the play fences gives an outlook of providing an obstacle or barrier that is intended to keep something out or in. It shows through the protagonist character, named Troy Maxson and his wife Rose in which later they both realize the aftermath of the process of building a fence became the opposite of what they didn’t intend to happen.

In the story, “On the subway”, the author Sharon Olds uses literary devices to help the reader get a clearer understanding of the theme of the passage. This devices are seen on the style and grammar being used in the story such as symbolism and imagery which illustrate the point of view the protagonist has towards society.

In “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula Le Guin, the informally-speaking narrator depicts a cookie-cutter utopia with perpetually happy citizens that sing and dance in the music-filled streets during the Festival of Summer. However, under one of the beautiful public buildings lays a child, no older than ten years-old, who lays in its own excrement. Although the citizens know the emancipated child is there, they refuse to act upon the child’s suffering, for their happiness depends entirely on the child’s abominable misery. Through ethos, the narrator illustrates this utopian society with a casual tone and frequently asks the audience for their input. Le Guin’s fairy-tale introduction of the story establishes her credibility through her extensive knowledge and understanding of the people of Omelas. Le Guin utilizes logos through the narrator’s second person point of view which incites the audience to draw their own conclusions about the city of Omelas and question their own justifications of the child’s existence. The concept of the happiness of many relying on the necessary suffering of one forces the reader to question their own morals and their justifications for the child’s physical and mental condition. Through ethos, logos, and pathos, Le Guin presents the contrast and divide between the citizens of Omelas and the child in the cellar in order to challenge the reader’s capacity for moral self-conception.

In “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” and “The Lottery”, Ursula Le Guin and Shirley Jackson depict a seemingly perfect society built on dark secrets. In the story, “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”, Omelas is a utopian city of happiness and delight, whose inhabitants are smart and cultured. Everything about Omelas is pleasing, except for the secret of the city: the good fortune of Omelas requires that a single unfortunate child be kept in perpetual filth, darkness and misery, and that all its citizens should be told of this when they come of age. After being exposed to the truth, most of the people of Omelas are initially shocked and disgusted, but are ultimately able to come to terms with the fact and

The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas is a short story written by Ursula Le Guin. In her story, Le Guin creates a model Utilitarian society in which the majority of its citizens are devoid of suffering; allowing them to become an expressive, artistic population. Le Guin’s unrelenting pursuit of making the reader imagine a rich, happy and festival abundant society mushrooms and ultimately climaxes with the introduction of the outlet for all of Omelas’ avoided misfortune. Le Guin then introduces a coming of age ritual in which innocent adolescents of the city are made aware of the byproduct of their happiness. She advances with a scenario where most of these adolescents are extremely burdened at

    In “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” written by Ursula Le Guin, a society is depicted as a care-free utopia. In this society lies the protagonist. In the beginning of the short story, Le Guin asks the reader question such as, “ How describe the citizens of Omelas”.

Ursula Le Guin’s short story “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” is a plotless, philosophical fiction. Written in 1973, Le Guin tells the dark narrative of a fictional town which lives in peace with itself. The seemingly happy town houses a dark secret, one so dark that citizen’s of the town leave to escape it. Ursula Le Guin does this by using authorial intrusion, withholding information, and encouraging her readers to think.

In the short stories “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula Le Guin and “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, the authors use literary criticism so the reader can dissect the many different literary elements such as symbolism and vivid ironic imagery that help explain the parallel theme going on in both stories. To achieve a world with peace throughout and reach a state of utopia some moral and ethical decay will take place. Both stories have social issues that test the citizens moral and ethical beliefs throughout the story, and actually show how the society is decaying because of what they are doing.

Writing has always been something I dread. It’s weird because I love talking and telling stories, but the moment I have to write it all down on paper, I become frantic. It’s almost as if a horse race just begun in my mind, with hundreds of horses, or words, running through my mind, unable to place them in chronological order. Because I struggle to form satisfying sentence structure, it takes me hours, sometimes even days, to write one paper. It’s not that I think I’m a “bad writer,” I just get discouraged easily. Needless to say, I don’t think highly of my writing skills. When I was little I loved to both read and write. I read just about any book I could get my hands on, and my journal was my go to for my daily adventures. Although it’s

Literature is an imitation of societal values and is thus a reflection of the human experience of a time period. Written works emphasize the elements of culture, by means of characters, particular events, setting and theme, specific to the time period in which it was composed. Furthermore, literature mirrors the troubles or hardships of society and projects the core values that define said society. Thus, as culture has changed over time, literature has remained a critical facet in representing time periods of the past. Essentially, the culture of a time period is manifested through writing in the projection of society’s values, symbolism of the center of community and literature itself.