"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas": Examining the Human Condition

Along with evil masters, I was glad to know that there were also kind masters who saw the good in all; even the colored. These type of people were portrayed by the Shelbys', Augustine St. Clare, Eva, and Miss Ophelia. I was happy that even during the worst times, people like them had the courage to go against the world and spread happiness in the world. However, I found it wrong that calamities struck to only those who did good. For example, due to debt the Shelbys' had to sell their slaves, Augustine St. Clare and Eva both died before they could free their slaves, and there was nothing Miss Ophelia could do to save Uncle Tom from being sold again.

In “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas,” the author Le Guin establishes the idea that one can not enjoy happiness that results from the immoral, discriminatory victimization of someone else. Upon first look, the city of Omelas seems like a fairy-tale utopia where everyone is happy, yet underneath this veil of splendor, there is a child that is neglected and abused to the point of where some people are so sickened that they must leave Omelas. All of Omelas’s glamour and joy depends solely on the suffering of this child, and if the child were to be rescued, all goodness in Omelas would be destroyed. The people of Omelas know that “theirs is no vapid irresponsible happiness. They know that they, like the child, are not free” (47). The passage reveals that the people fully understand the terms of the child’s misery.

“If the hypothesis were offered us of a world in which Messrs. Fourier's and Bellamy's and Morris's utopias should all be outdone, and millions kept permanently happy on the one simple condition that a certain lost soul on the far-off edge of things should lead a life of lonely torture, what except a specific and independent sort of emotion can it be which would make us immediately feel, even though an impulse arose within us to clutch at the happiness so offered, how hideous a thing would be its enjoyment when deliberately accepted as the fruit of such a bargain”? This is a quote from the American philosopher William James that largely inspired the story “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” written by Ursula K. Le Guin. Ursula though born in California, currently resides in Portland Oregon. Her mother was a writer and her father an anthropologist. She thought of the name Omelas when she saw a road sign for Salem Oregon.

Ursula K. Le Guin’s short work of fiction, The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, remains memorable in both its theme of injustice and its unique presentation of the raw human emotion in reaction to it. Finding parallels with other notable works such as George Orwell’s 1984, the short story gives the reader with a quick abstract of a moral tale. It offers an ethical rejection of injustice through its actors – the people that choose not to live within Omelas, refusing utopia, and walking away guided by a sense of moral purpose. The story connects with readers through its many themes. Notably, it parallels the realities in our world of injustice, anger and frustration, despair and powerlessness,

For instance, she asks readers questions such as: “But what else should there be?” (2), “ What else, what else belongs in the joyous city?” (2), and “How can I tell you about the people of Omelas?” (1). This style develops the theme by building suspense until the main theme is presented. Since the imprisoned child is not described until three quarters of the way into the story, Le Guin had to conceive a new structure to prevent the reader from getting bored. It is genius the way that Le Guin uses her creative structure. By developing the story as she goes, readers stay on their toes, questioning whether the new addition to Omelas will stick with that story, or fail to meet Le Guin’s expectations. Le Guin also uses diction in order to present her theme about scapegoating. This is especially true in her description of the captured child. She chooses words that have negative connotations, such as “naked”, “excrement”, “dirt”, “clotted” and “fowl-smelling”. The negatively connated words then help readers to feel the sympathy necessary to understand that the child is an innocent scapegoat, who is treated poorly for no good reason.

The focus of this story is laid upon the child who is kept in the damp room without windows in a basement. He is filthy and devoid of any sunlight in the room being removed from any social contact. On the contrary, some of the citizens come and peer at the child to see who brings them a sort of joy and comfort in their lives. “Some of them understand why, and some do not, but they all understand that their happiness, the beauty of their city, the tenderness of their friendships, the health of their children...depend wholly on this child’s abominable misery” (Guin 3). While adults accept the situation with the child, little children come feeling rage and shock as well as considering how to help the imprisoned. At this stage, they feel despair and compassion to him; however, they can not exchange their beautiful life for the sake of one child.

In “The Ones Who Walk away from Omelas,” by Ursula Le Guin, the author brings forward two different approaches to dealing with a perfect society. These approaches come from the fact that Omelas is a city which is successful in all aspects because of a child suffering from extreme conditions under the city. The people of Omelas “depend wholly on this child’s abominable misery” (Le Guin). Although a situation

The decisions a person makes in life are based on their moral and ethical beliefs. In this day and age, there is no set answer for what is right and what is wrong, one will make that decision based on their values. In the short story The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula K. LeGuin, readers believe that Omelas is a perfect utopian society. Later on in the story, it is revealed to the readers that it is actually a dystopian society, where the happiness of the citizens comes from one child living in complete misery. In order to justify the righteousness of this situation, one would have to analyze it from the three philosophical viewpoints of the Categorical Imperative, Divine Command Theory, and Utilitarianism.

It’s quite gruesome. Some can’t handle the wrong being done to this child. A few individuals begin to think that if their society lets this happen what else is wrong in Omelas? Is it not as perfect as it seems? They can’t deal with the fact that their happiness relies on the “child’s abominable misery” (3).

Is it wrong to value one life more than another? “The Ones Who Walked Away From Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin is a science fiction short story has themes of morality versus prosperity, the nature of happiness itself, and sacrificing a human life for other lives. The author puts the main focus on Omelas and how perfect it is, the introduction has no signs of anything wrong with the society; until the child in the basement is introduced. The author specifically put that there in order to heavily contrast the living situations of the child in the basement and the people in the city. The child in the basement must suffer in order for prosperity to flourish in Omelas. The existence of the feeble-minded child in the filthy basement a condition made for the happiness and prosperity of the citizens, however, some realize that their happiness isn’t freedom and simply walk away thus creates the point of morality versus prosperity, the nature of happiness itself.

In "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas", Ursula Le Guin tells a story about a town called Omelas, a dystopian town. In the story, at first Guin describes Omela’s as an extremely perfect town, but it turns out not as perfect as it came of too be. Omela’s its actually a covered up dystopian town.

Freedom is something that people take for granted. They think little of it until it is snatched away from them. That moment is when they realize how precious freedom is. In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” a lottery that has been going on for many years is held and a woman named Tessie Hutchinson “wins” and she is stoned to death. In Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” a summer festival is held and there is happiness everywhere except for one child who is locked away in a basement or cellar. The child is naked, alone, and miserable. In Jackson’s “The Lottery” and Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” they state how the suffering of one lone person is needed to keep the rest of the people happy and free because of tradition, chaos control, assumptions.

First, in “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”, Ursula Le Guin focuses on the

"The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" is a short story, written by Ursula K. Le Guin, an American Author, published in 1973. Ursula Kroeber Le Guin was inspired to write this short story because she wanted to teach others a lesson about life. Ursula K. Le Guin is best known for her ability to create alternative worlds, just like the utopia, Omelas, in "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas". In this story we learn about what it means to have morals and to stand by your morals even when it is hard too. ("Ursula").

The short story, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”, by Ursula K. LeGuin, is a disturbing allegory that explains a shocking other-world, a promise of happiness, and an everlasting sense of security. LeGuin describes that the contentment of others exists completely from someone else’s’ expense. The utopian society seems unimaginable, a place so perfect that there is no need for rules or conformity. In order for this town to continue in bliss a child must be sacrificed in a broom closet, in its own feces, covered in gruesome sores. The story of Omelas closely connects with many modern day corporations, ranging from animal abuse, the mistreatment of workers (ie. sweatshops), loosely organized groupings or commercial enterprises, such as drug cartels (Who Is behind Mexico's