The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas

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.

In both works, “The Ones That Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula K Leguin and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the authors show sacrifice. This essay will compare the differences and similarities in the stories, and how these sacrifices add to the fulfillment of their lives, success, and happiness.

The town of Omelas is a deceptive dystopia that at the beginning, sounds like a world dreamed up by a child, full of joy and peace. Le Guin illustrates this environment of tranquility: “In the silence of the broad green meadows one could hear the music winding through the city

In "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas," Ursula K. LeGuin makes use of colorful descriptions and hypothetical situations to draw us into a surrealistic world that illustrates how unsympathetic society can be. LeGuin's ambiguity of how the story will go is purposeful; she cunningly makes her case that each of us handles the undesirable aspects of the world we live in differently, and that ultimately, happiness is relative.

Though Le Guin in her writing on ‘The ones Who Walk Away From Omelas’ did not provide exactly as to why the child was been isolated in the first place, however, with speculation with regards to the community, deduced that they needed something or someone to which their perfection, beauty and unending happiness can be compared copiously to. They know without the existence of the

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).

In the short story, “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”, by Ursula Le Guin, the author is displaying the importance of understanding true happiness, one must experience other emotions first. While the rest of the citizens are parading towards the Green Fields, the narrator takes us deeper into the city and explains the nature of this so-called “perfect” city. The narrator explains that there is no type of government that exists or any military presence. With this, there’s no slaves or set of laws. Furthermore, there is lack of clergy and oligarchical aspects in Omelas. Then the narrator continues to describe the citizens, by stating, “One thing I know there is none of in Omelas is guilt.” (Le Guin). Obvisously, the narrator still hasn’t

You see, to keep the communities in both stories joyous and prosperous someone’s happiness, well-being, and life must be sacrificed. In “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” the people chose to keep their source of happiness, locked

Many people dared to go inside the great cities walls, only to never come back out again. The city consumed people in darkness and never let them go. Until one day, a boy was travelling with his mother, Euphora. Euphora was a beautiful woman, she was talented and was extremely smart. She could steal the hearts of men just with the flick of her finger, but she never used this to her advantage. Her son, Peter, was an orphan. Peter had come from a very poor family and was constantly abused by his

The people of Omelas are very much like the people of today. Whether they realized or not, people suffer daily only for others to benefit from their efforts. The narrator tells the reader, “They were not simple folk, you see, though they were happy” (250). This leads one to believe that the populace of Omelas was considered intellectual individuals. Later, the narrator repeats the fact that the citizens are happy (250), as well as that they are mature, passionate adults whose lives were not wretched (250). Their happiness, however, comes at the expense of 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

In this tale, the people who leave decide that no utopia, no fair city, is worth the sacrifice of even a single child. They decide that not one tear of his suffering is worth all the splendor that comes as a result.

Ursula Le Guin in her written short story “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” gives the reader a psychomyth type motive, with this picture of a dystopian like society where a child is used as a sacrifice for happiness. Ursula Le Guin in a way allows the reader the opportunity to try and decide what they think the ending of the story should be. She begins by leading the reader through the journey of the beautiful and happy society of Omelas. When you first start to read this you think of this society that came from a fairytale where there is noble nights, happy children, kings and queens, true love, and everything else you would see in a perfect fairytale. The people of Omelas were always known to be happy, merry, joyful, and so on. There seemed to be no crime, no enemies, and no war.

“They leave go on. They leave Omelas, they walk ahead into the darkness, and they do not come back.” The people of Omelas leave their “city of happiness” when met with the dark reality fueling their prosperity. Instead of crying or throwing a fit they do not go home at all. The location of the ones who left are regarded in a vauge sense, leaving the reader to come up with their own interpretations. I believe that their venture into the darkness is describing their suicide. Constantly thorughout the paragrah the author uses the word “alone”. Through death one becomes isolated in their own reality and esssence. Their lone voyage is prompted by the inner tourmoil and pain which each child experiences. Rather than fight these girls and boy flee

A utopian community would be a world without oppression, discrimination or social hierarchy—essentially, an ideal place to live. However, does a perfect society really exist? In Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, More flirts with the concept of a utopian community with regard to geography, city structure, labor, government and religion. Considering these aspects, the community depicted in Utopia is primarily a success, with limited failures.