How Do Those Who Walk Away From Omelas Essay

In Those Who Walk Away From Omelas the people of Omelas live their lives in sheltered happiness. In order to maintain the “perfect” environment, a single child has to be egregiously abused and kept in a state of absolute dejected misery. Residents of omelas, at the proper age, are informed of the of the child. They are able to visit the child but not allowed to feed nor rescue it. Instead they are presented with the choice to continue to profit off their misery and enjoy costly happiness or walk away into the real world and risk their own “suffering”. The issue of oppression presented by LeGuin in Those Who Walk Away From Omelas can connect to the situation that most sweat shop workers face today.
Happiness has consumed those who reside in

Omelas. The individuals attempt to forget who they oppress in order to maintain their perfect environment.“In a basement under one of the beautiful public buildings of Omelas, or perhaps in the cellar of one of its spacious private homes, there is a room.

It has one locked door, and no window. A little light seeps in dustily between cracks in the boards, secondhand from a cobwebbed window somewhere across the cellar. In one corner of the little room a couple of mops, with stiff, clotted, foul-smelling heads stand near a rusty bucket. The floor is dirt, a little damp to the touch, as cellar dirt usually is. The room is about three paces long and two wide: a mere broom closet or disused tool room. In the room a child is sitting. It could be a boy or a girl. It looks about six, but actually is nearly ten. It is feeble-minded. Perhaps it was born defective, or perhaps it has become imbecile through fear, malnutrition, and neglect.”(LeGuin 4) To think that the ultimate happiness of an entire city rests on the shoulders of a neglected young child says a lot about the “utopia” beliefs. The theme of oppression is not only apparent in the city of Omelas but also outside of the story, in the real world, even as close to home as Los Angeles. Chris Davis, a Los Angeles writer, wrote a short

article that digs deep into the conditions of sweat shops. Davis interviews a woman who is the head of the GWC(Garment Worker Center), a labor advocacy group.“‘Now imagine what that heat might feel like with no ventilation,’ said Maria, who did not give her last name for fear of retaliation. She does not have to imagine what it’s like working in a factory that’s 15 degrees hotter than the already-scorching outdoors—she’s one of the more than 43,000 people employed by the garment industry in Los Angeles, making clothes for some of the world’s most fashionable brands. Rough conditions—working 10 or more hours a day at just about half the legal minimum wage in a baking-hot room—are often just part of the job. Describing it was enough to bring Maria to tears.”(Davis) In order to please the American consumer these innocent people are forced work inhumanly for the happiness of others. Both LeGuin and Davis generate validity in the points they articulate. In the story of the child who is locked in a cellar to people in the real world facing the same situation, both sources show similarities. In a sense, they both live their lives solely to maintain the happiness of the people of Omelas and the American consumer. This is not the only time in the story where the theme of oppression connects to the conditions and overall life of those who work in sweat shops.
In a city with no religion or moral structure, who is to say what being fair is. The residents of Omelas can only imagine the destruction morality could cause.“But there is nothing they can do. If the child were brought up into the sunlight out of that vile place, if it were cleaned and fed and comforted, that would be a good thing, indeed; but if it were done, in that day and hour all the prosperity and beauty and delight of Omelas would wither and be destroyed. Those are the terms. To exchange all the goodness and grace of every life in Omelas for that single, small improvement: to throw away the happiness of thousands for the chance of happiness of one: that would be to let guilt within the walls indeed.” Oppression is merely to push someone else aside in order to get ahead. In this case, the people of omelas will do whatever it takes to keep the child down in it’s cellar to maintain peace and prosperity within the utopia. Saving the child will in essence destroy everyones happiness. Exchanging fairness for happiness within the city Omelas is also present in the world of harsh labor. Workers who suffer harsh conditions in order to keep designer clothing on the backs of the wealthy would love to see the day they retaliate for equality. Angelo young, a writer for International Business Times covers the Chinese labor strike. He writes “A strike at a Chinese factory that makes shoes for Nike, Timberland, Kenneth Cole and other popular brands grew on Tuesday to about 5,000 workers who are demanding their employer pay its government-mandated housing fund money. Workers for Stella Shoe Co., based in the southern industrial city of Dongguan, began the strike on Sunday and were joined Tuesday by hundreds more Stella employees from another facility.” Consumers would become angered when they see their favorite pair of shoes or piece of clothing out of stock in stores. these workers are doing nothing more than fighting against injustice. Like those of Omelas, the people can’t envision a world without the child remaining down in the cellar just like the American consumer can’t envision a world without precious imported goods. The mere act of fairness could destroy the false world that both parties live in. Letting the child out of suffrage or paying and providing benefits for factory workers wouldn't destroy anything more than the ego of the oppressors.
Within the story, LeGuin emphasizes passages that support the idea of oppression.

The passages show how blinding happiness can be to the people of Omelas. Passages even show the extent that most of the residents are willing to go in order to maintain their “Utopia”. The residents go as far as sacrificing the life and happiness of a single child for their own. The recurrent theme connects to the the real world issue of forced labor. Davis and Angelo, both writers for online news sources, shine a light on the conditions and retaliation that most workers face and participate in. LeGuin’s hidden message and the work of Davis and Angelo both point in the same direction. The people of Omelas can not imagine a life without the child's suffrage nor can the common buyer imagine their life without regularly consumed

items.