The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin

They would like to do something, but they cannot, and the painful realization that their bliss depends on his misery makes some of them leave the city.

The moment of awakening that happiness is based on someone’s suffering is described in the story: when people see the child, they feel anger, outrage, and impotence despite all explanations (Le Guin 7). People’s understanding of justice is shaped by their own selfish interests, and, as the story suggests, people can only truly be happy until they do not realize it. In other words, people tend to perceive ignorance as bliss. The author claims that “we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of considering happiness as something rather stupid” (Le Guin 6). The misery of some is necessary for the happiness of many.Īnother topic that the story touches upon is the concept of justice and the moment of awakening that injustice exists. As Brooks notes, “When we buy a cellphone or a piece of cheap clothing, there is some exploited worker-a child in the basement” (para. Those who are rich need the poor to sustain their lives on their expense. The prosperity of Omelas, as well as the prosperity of modern developed countries, basically depends on the suffering of some child in the basement (Brooks). Overall, the story is a metaphor of exploitation that mirrors the principles on which the happiness of modern society is based. The citizens know about the child and sometimes come to see him, but, in most of them, the inner conflict is settled in favor of the society’s prosperity at the expense of the child’s misery, and they do nothing to help him. Some vague social contract states that if he is released, the city will lose its prosperity and beauty and will be destroyed (Le Guin 7). In a basement under one of the houses, there is a mentally deficient boy trapped inside a room and kept in horrible conditions. However, it is revealed that the happiness of the citizens of Omelas is not as idyllic as it seems. It is a utopian society, which the author describes vaguely, leaving place for the reader’s imagination and inviting them to add any details that would contribute to the image. Their life is peaceful and free of war, oppression, technology, laws, “monarchy, slavery, the stock exchange, the advertisement, the secret police, and the bomb” (Le Guin 6). The story describes an idyllic city of Omelas whose inhabitants are celebrating life with a festival of music and joy.

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin