The Ones Who Walked Away From Omelas Analysis

In the short story “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin the theme is that in order to be truly happy, one must stand up for what’s right, even if it means leaving everything that they know. Society creates traditions and ways of thinking that are not easy for everyone to follow. In Omelas, the citizens have the choice to ignore the suffering of a child locked in a cellar, or leave the life and the city they are familiar with. The people of Omelas must ask themselves whether it is better for a child to suffer for the city’s happiness and wealth, or should the city suffer, just to give the child a shot at happiness? It is ironic because Omelas is a

From the beginning of time, society has made the “moral” perspective the desired response or reaction to all situations and scenarios. The term moral means concerned with the principles of right and wrong behavior, and the integrity or dishonesty of human character. To be morally sound, one must address the true meaning and purpose of morality. In the story “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” citizens often leave due to the reality of their society. The ones who walk away from Omelas are cowards, not “moral” heroes of any manner. By leaving Omelas the former residents are abandoning the child to suffer in Omelas, its bitter reality, which involves no one changing the course of its life.

Could one give a justification for making an innocent individual suffer just to preserve the happiness of the greater good? In the story “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula Le Guin, the life of a young child is ignored and imprisoned in order to make others happy. This specific situation in Omelas can be approached in one or two ways, including either the deontological view or the utilitarianism view. However, the proper ethical dilemma relating to the city of Omelas would be the deontological view due to their beliefs not damaging anyone else's lives to preserve happiness to the population.

In Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas,” the narrator describes a beautiful utopian society. Nonetheless, the reader quickly learns that there is something much darker about the society and the reasons for its beauty. Throughout the description of the utopia, the reader is given hints of flaws within the society (drugs, drinking, etc.). All of the minor flaws that are foreshadowed to the reader in the beginning lead into the major flaw that is later found out -- the scapegoat. The scapegoat, or the person who all the minor flaws are blamed on, is the child who is locked underneath the city. However, the point of view the story is told from is what particularly leads the reader to the theme. If told from a different point

From a close look at the current situation in the world - globalization is drawing more and more countries, and on the other hand, more and more are getting further from each other in terms of life level. In the story "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" Ursula LeGuin reminds her readers that walking away from a problem is not a solution of it. Omelas’ well-being in some supernatural way is associated with the life of one child, who is caring a lonely existence in a dark basement. However, citizens of this city did not dare to change lives or try to come to the child with a gentle word. Otherwise, the happiness for the whole city would be over. At the same time, all the people of the city knew this child. The author raises many humanitarian questions that will influence the civilization’s future survival: will people do something about a problem or keep walking away and enjoy their happiness for someone’s suffering?

It is safe to say that most people in the world want one thing, happiness. Many men, women, and children will go through great lengths to find this cherished feeling, but how far is too far? In the fictional short stories "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson and "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin both have a different belief on what way to obtain happiness for their communities, but are in the similar lines of the need to harm one individual for the contentment of the others. In "The Lottery" the community joins together for their annual gamble of life where, families each go pull a ticket out of the black box to then discover who will be the one stoned to death for the good of everyone's crops. In "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" although they cherish life dearly they hide a unperfect child locked away in the dark, underneath the beautiful Omelas buildings in a basement. Its sole purpose is to be hungry, dirty, and miserable for if this child were to ever feel happiness, the people of Omelas would not. Although the two stories use different methods to acquire their happiness they both believe with the harming of others they obtain their happiness.

In "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" author Ursula K. Le Guin uses the utopian society of Omelas to symbolically highlight the ugly and unsavory state of the human condition. The stories unidentified narrator paints a colorful picture of Omelas and ironically describes its residents as happy, joyous and not at all barbaric. Although Le Guin describes Omelas as a delightful even whimsical place that affords its citizens “…happiness, the beauty of their city, the tenderness of their friendships, the health of the of their children, the wisdom of their scholars, the skill of their makers, even the abundance of their harvest and the kindly weather of their skies”; we come to discover just the opposite (5). At its core we find a

The town is described in two different ways, at first there is a positive, upbeat joyous depiction of this town, full of celebration music and singing. But also

, the characters in the story often show emotions whether it be externally or internally. The

In the short story “The Ones who Walk Away from Omelas,” written by Ursula Le Guin, unnamed members of society choose to leave the city of Omelas and “go towards a place even less

The city is first introduced to its readers as a society that is filled with only joy, with glimpses of all the cheerful

Do you know think happiness is normally come to you? Have you ever thought that there is a sacrifice in the back of happiness? A lot of people think you would think only of yourself at the time of happiness. But, you should see around you of people and the environment as when you are happy. This short story has been told such a thing to you guys.

In the beginning of the quote, the author was describing her own thoughts of a utopian society. At the end of the quote, she lets the reader’s imagination build off of her thoughts to have their own perspective on the city of Omelas. Another example of Le Guin letting the reader illustrate the utopia is when the author writes, “In a basement under one of the beautiful public buildings of Omelas,or perhaps in the cellar of ones of its spacious private homes, there is a room. It has one locked door, and no window” (Le Guin 826). Le Guin is letting the reader imagine where this one room that the child is trapped in.

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.

It has been said that life can never be carried out and truly lived to its fullest unless there has been some sort of suffering and pain. Mistakes are to be learned from, and a hard past can only result in a stronger present. Though many might find themselves alone in their misery the truth is they are not, everyone has struggles. We all have our ups and downs, but it is how we react to them that truly matters. Life is life and no matter what, giving up on lifelong dreams and aspirations because of a few bumps in the road should never be an option.