Leaving Omelas Analysis

The article “Leaving Omelas: Questions of Faith and Understanding,” by Jerre Collins, draws attention to the fact that the short story “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” by Ursula Le Guin, has not impacted Western thought despite its literary merit. Collins breaks his article down into three parts, the first explaining that he will “take this story as seriously as we are meant to take it” (525). Collins then goes over several highly descriptive sections of the story, which invite the reader to become part of the utopia that is Omelas. Collins states that when it comes to the state of the child and how it affects the citizens of Omelas the descriptions “may seem to be excessive and facetious” (527). But this is because Le Guin is using a

technique called “a narrative theodicy” (Collins 527). Collins explains Le Guin’s narrative technique to show the high quality and seriousness of the work. The second and third points that Collins explores is how the story “works as a challenge to our conscience, and then suggest two factors that limit the radicality of that challenge” (525). This is done by examine the situation of the child and then comparing it to the West’s economic system and religious stories that focus on the suffering of one for the happiness of many. By doing so Collins articulates that Le Guin hopes to challenge the Western idea that “rationalizations of exploitation are accounted for by a hidden link between redemption-theology and complacency about exploitation” (531). The articulation of this point challenges the Western conscience just as the work intended. The second hindrance to Le Guin’s work is the actual Bible and the idea of resurrection it presents (Collins 532). Those that choose to leave Omelas are seen as “going from life into death” (Collins 532). This presents a problematic viewpoint as it “indirectly buttresses the very scapegoat theodicy she hopes to undermine” (Collins 532). By articulating these two points Collins accurately answers the questions as to why “Those Who Walk Away from Omelas” has not caused an impact on Western society and thought despite it being written for that purpose.
The article “The Talking Porcupine Liberates Utopia: Le Guin’s ‘Omelas’ as Pretext to the Dance,” by Kenneth Roemer, focuses on the effects of the narrative style used by Le Guin in “Those Who Walk Away from Omelas.” Roemer believes if there is ore “focus on the first-person narrator, then ‘Omelas’ becomes one of the most significant modern utopian texts” (7).

This argument is supported by the unique position of the narrator they are not an “’objective’ observer” but instead “She is an entrapped cinematographer” (8). The narrator portrays a world through a biased voice making it seem that much more splendid and magnificent. After finishing the description of the utopia, the narrator switches to first person and begins asking questions directed at the audience about the town. These questions “pose real ethical, linguistic, and perceptual problems involved in describing and conceptualizing utopia during the last 20th century” (Roemer 8). By allowing the audience to build the town the narrator allows for the “justification for the brevity and vagueness of the narrative” (Roemer 10). The narrator is made to look even more unreliable by her word choice and “admits her ignorance about many aspects of the Omelas system” (Roemer 10). By using this kind of narrative voice the story becomes more believable and offers a change from previous utopian works it is not offers “a memorable encounter with a modern utopian text” but also causes the audience to become part of “the creation of utopias that may involve unexpected moral responsibilities” (Roemer

12).