The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas Literary Analysis

The short story, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” by Ursula LeGuin describes a utopian city called Omelas. Omelas is portrayed as a beautiful sea-side city. LeGuin describes the “Festival of Summer” where the entire population gathers at the beautiful “Green Fields.” It is a joyous time for the people of Omelas. There is dancing, singing and horse races and lots of food.
The residents are described as “not simple folk, not dulcet shepherds, noble savages, bland utopians” (513). Children were healthy and happy and the adults were “mature, intelligent and passionate” (513). There were a society of few rules. There is no monarchy or the need for slavery, so they have no stock markets, advertisements, police or military. There is religion

This child, is a human sacrifice that allows the rest of Omelas residents to live in such a peaceful society. This child lives in a locked, dark and wet windowless room underneath the city’s beautiful buildings. The child is naked, thin and covered in sores, “it’s belly protrudes; it lives on a half-bowl of corn meal and grease a day” (515). Each member of Omelas is aware of this child, most will visit once to gawk but some come to be cruel. The harsh truth of this society is the inhumane conditions of this child is what the existence of the blissful Omelas depends on. The knowledge of this child and what they mean to their society creates conflicts among a few of the citizens of Omelas both young and old. And while there are few rules in Omelas one very strict rule is “there may not even be a kind word spoken to the child”

We have a more structured society, we have many laws, armed forces and governments. But all of our safety, happiness and guilty pleasures come at the expense of someone else whether we as a society stop to see it or not. For example, we fight wars for the wellbeing of all people but it comes at the expense of destruction and death of thousands of innocent lives. We directly support sweatshops that actually employ children, who work in environments, much like the one the child of Omelas lives in, because we have to have designer clothing to keep up with the latest trends. We as society boycott and move on from products, or events solely because we don’t like the ideals behind them but we never do much to actually change them. Simply leaving one item or place for the next isn’t a solution. People are always in conflict within