The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas Sparknotes

The Paradox of Life
In the story of “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas,” Ursula K. Le Guin illustrates a society that lives underneath a horrible contradiction. The people of Omelas have happy, successful lives only because in the basement of an inconspicuous house, a young child lives in daily despair. The people of Omelas have a selfish disposition that as long as they continue to be happy, whatever happens to the child does not matter. This is a similar concept to today’s society involving natural resources and the Earth itself. In this story Le Guin shows the true, unladen selfishness and apathy of people concerning their own welfare and the dehumanization of someone for personal gain.
It is a strict law, that for the prosperity of

the people, the child must be kept away from all kindness and light. Every single person either “comes to see it” or “know[s] it is there,” yet they go along with its miserableness (Le Guin 340). It is fully accepted that the only way to have a beautiful city and a successful life is for the child to be miserable and depressed. The child is even dehumanized enough by the town to be called an “it” (Le Guin 340). In a way, no one wants to accept that it is as human as the rest of them, yet they leave it to suffer there for the entirety of its lifespan. The people only care about their own life and do not want it messed up so “not even a kind word” can be said (Le Guin 340). Likewise, the acceptance and selfishness of the people of Omelas is like the people of today. People accept that the production of their goods may produce harmful gases to animals or destroy the habitats of many species. As Lorenzo Pellegrini states, “the data suggest that the disturbed (global or local) ecosystems are reacting in more and more extreme ways to human interference” (Pellegrini 1251). There is a universal purposeful, or perhaps unconscious, ignorance of how the production of products can affect the environment, animals, or other people. Just like the people of today are ignorant of others trouble, the people of Omelas are purposefully ignorant to the child’s sorrow.
The entirety of the story can be summed up into a simple question: what is the value of a life? In dealing with the paradox of the story, there is a great need of acceptance required of “the child’s abominable misery” because of the tremendous number of people that would be affected should everything be ruined (Le Guin 340). Although, if the monetary value is set aside, the question asked to any who the read the story and to the people in the story itself, is whether to place any value on the child itself. The people of Omelas have dehumanized it to such a point that it is barely human. It is barely alive. When placed under the perspective of its inhumane demeanor, it is easy to say it has no value, or is unimportant to the whole. However, if put under the perspective that it is a person that has been put under the worst possible misery imaginable, the monster in question has a soul and a worth that is ignored and avoided. The perspective in which the child is viewed truly tells whether this is a story of selfishness or survival. Just as with the people of Omelas placing more value on their own prosperity, corporate businesses and governments place more value on their financial profits than the people who may be affected by their projects. Carlton Mark Waterhouse, for example, states that statistically “government-allowed pollution kills hundreds of thousands in the United States annually and millions worldwide” (Waterhouse). This is seen as acceptable because these governments and businesses have placed more value on their monetary gain than on the people and wildlife that are affected.
Perspectives and morals are important to the placement of value, and it is important to regard anything in question with a humane and kind perspective.
The people of Omelas excuse their apathy and neglectfulness of the child because of their belief that they are doing what is best for the community, but they are ignoring how horrible their actions truly are and the affect it is having, not only on the one child, but the very children of Omelas.

When the children that are “between eight and twelve” see the child, they “are always shocked and sickened at the sight” (Le Guin 340). These kids are emotionally scarred for life “no matter how well the matter has been explained to them,” and they will continue to be haunted the rest of their life by the paradox that is their life (Le Guin 340). The people of Omelas are selfish not only in the complete disregard and neglect of the miserable child but of their own children. These kids must deal with their “anger, outrage, impotence, despite all explanations” on their own (Le Guin 340). The minors may think over it for “weeks or years,” but they, just like their predecessors, soon learn apathy to the child’s miserableness. This is similar to the apathy people today feel to the “natural resource depletion and pollution” because they know that this must happen to order to receive what they desire, and they have no desire to change it (Pellegrini 1245). Just as there were those who could not accept the apathy of Omelas, there needs to be people “such as the courageous youth” to fight against injustice of this world in any way possible

(Waterhouse).
The story “Those Who Walk Away From Omelas” presents a tale of the injustice of a child that embodies misery itself in a society that only wants its own happiness and does not care what it must do to attain it and the people who cannot stand for the apathy and purposeful ignorance of such a society and leave it forever.

The story poses a question for the community on the value of life itself and their individual perspectives. Likewise, it brings to light their moral ambiguity passed down to their children by seeing the child. The children learn to have apathy of the child by the realization that happiness could only be bestowed on one of them. Similarly, this story mirrors the apathy of the people of today regarding the degradation of natural resources and the damage that could be done because of it to other people and wildlife. This story stands as a testament that it is only by choices and actions do people show their true

character.

Works Cited

Le Guin, Ursula. “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.” Literature and the Writing Process. Ed. Elizabeth McMahan, et. al., 11th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2018. 337-341. Print.

Pellegrini, Lorenzo. "Assessing the State of the World: Environment and Development." Development & Change, vol. 38, no. 6, Nov. 2007, pp. 1245-1254. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/j.1467-7660.2007.00453.x.

Waterhouse, Carlton Mark. “The New York Times Company.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 May 2016, www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2016/05/23/can-citizens-sue-the-government-over-climate-change/we-are-witnessing-a-societal-move-toward-climate-justice.