How Does Ursula Le Guin Use Imagery In The Ones Who Walk Away

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, a depiction of Utopic in “The Ones Who Walk Away”
There is a thin line between good and bad and we all have to make choices in our lives. “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula Le Guin, uses imagery throughout the story to display the consequences that are made when the people of Omelas decided to settle on a tradition that they deem necessary for their town’s happiness, for the sake of the people and offers up a scapegoat that some cannot digest.
The town of Omelas just might be the type of town so far removed from reality that it just as well be in Taiwan. On the first beautiful day of summer, Omelas celebrates by having a grand procession throughout the town. Music is playing while the citizens of

A room that smells and is full of cobwebs as though it has been forgotten. “The floor is dirt, a little damp to the touch, as cellar dirt usually is” (4). Inside the room is a young child of ten years old, although it looks to be much younger, that has completely lost its mind from being in the dark and little food and water. This child sits all day and all night in its own filth, all along, not having a sole to talk to or play with for no one comes close to it. The child can remember the warmth of the sunlight and its mother’s voice and feels that it is being punished, although it is innocent. At times, the child can be heard asking to be let go, promising to be good. As the other children in the city become of the age understanding which is around twelve, they are lead to that nasty place to see the child. While there, someone kicks the child to stand and treat it like an animal, gawking in disbelief. It is not clear how this child came to be chosen to live under such disgusting conditions and the family in which it came from, making that family providing the greatest sacrifice of all. After the children of the town have succeeded their time, they leave the child that is locked away and some go back to their lives. They realize that the child carries all the emotional darkness and pain of the city and

However, there are others in Omelas that under no certain way can understand or accept what they know to be the truth. They do not accept the personal gratification of the terms of the city. Their eyes, soul, body, and mind are awakened with the moral dilemma of the situation. Those are the one that “feel anger, outrage, impotence, despite all the explanations” (5). Knowing this horrible injustice weighs heavily on their heart and mind. Some get angry; some goes numb and know they cannot live in a place that prospers on the gruesome treatment of another person. Once this repulsive thought settles in the deep part of their soul, they get up in a zombie state start walking. They walk and walk and walk, not knowing where they would end up for the only thing in their mind it is not where they were, leaving the ugliest of Omelas behind