The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas Irony

The warm, balmy rays of sunshine bathe you and the subtle but mighty ring of church bells circulate across the city while you saunter on the sidewalk toward the promised land, the city of your dreams. In “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”, a short story by Ursula Le Guin, this land of milk and honey is the city of Omelas, a seemingly impeccable city with a dreadful revelation, a neglected child amidst filth in a basement. The people who visit this child feel anger since the child can’t be liberated or else the city’s happiness and the city itself will crumble, so most people come back to their residence upset and in rage, while others simply walk away from the city and never return. In this story, Le Guin signifies that evil is the source of all good through the use of situational irony, foil, and characterization.
Initially, Le Guin misleads the reader with situational irony to believe that the city of Omelas is perfect to convey that evil lies in all prosperity. In describing the town, the narrator explains that not even joy can describe the superior posture of the citizens of Omelas (1). The narrator adds that the city

of Omelas is “like a fairy tale” (2). Both of these examples exhibit that the city of Omelas is flawless and lead the reader to believe that this city is a utopia. However, the unforeseen inconsideration for the child and its living quarters contradicts what the story displays so far and what the reader believes to be true.
Subsequently, after describing the elegance of the city of Omelas and its citizens, the narrator moves forward to describe a dingy basement under a public building in the city. The narrator states, ”It has one locked door, and no window...The floor is dirt..In the room a child is sitting. It could be a boy or a girl.” (3). This quote from the story provides the reader with the darkness that this city holds and consequently, stuns the reader after hearing about all the positivity this city contains. The narrator also states,”The door is always locked...except sometimes the door rattles terribly and opens, and a person, or several people are there. One of them may kick the child to make it stand up. The others never come close, but peer at it with frightened, disgusted eyes.” (3). This quote also shows the reader how deceiving the story began and gives the reader a new perspective of the story. In exploiting the hovel that the child is living in, Le Guin mounts that evil is the source of all good.
Additionally, Le Guin uses foil through the contrast between the citizens of Omelas and the child to signify that good doesn’t exist without evil. In one quote from the story, the narrator brings to light some of the benefits the citizens of Omelas receive including, “..their happiness, the tenderness of their friendships, the health of their children, the wisdom of their scholars, the skill of their makers...” (3). This quote provides the reader with some of the countless opportunities and luxuries the citizens of Omelas enjoy and therefore displays the contrast between the citizens and the child. In another quote from the story, the narrator defines the Omelas declaring, “They were not naive, happy children - though their children were, in fact, happy. They were mature, intelligent, passionate adults whose lives were not wretched” (1). This quote briefly describes the citizens and also conveys them as the opposite of the child. Contrarily, though none of the citizens are described as wretched, the child kept in the basement is not only wretched, but the antithesis of the citizens of Omelas.
Concurrently, to emphasize the theme of her short story, Le Guin contrasts the citizens of Omelas to the child.

The child is described as “...feeble-minded. Perhaps it was born defective or perhaps it has become imbecile through fear, malnutrition, and neglect” (3). Unlike the depiction of the citizens, the reader is given a cryptic depiction that comments on the child’s delinquency without giving a definite origin, a very divergent portrayal from the citizens. The narrator also goes on to describe the child’s starvation, including that “it lives on half a bowl of cornmeal and grease a day” (3). This quote paints a picture of a brutalized, starving child and offers the polar opposite to the citizens of Omelas. Ultimately, by providing the contradicting citizens of Omelas and child, Le Guin renders that malevolence is the source of all

welfare.
Furthermore, Le Guin’s characterization of the child and the child’s visitors bolster the story’s theme: evil is the source of all good. For instance, the child cries, “I will be good!” and ”Please let me out.” (3). This quote reciprocates the child’s innocence to the reader and adds to the implication that the child was the center of a past catastrophic event. Also, the narrator comments that the child is a ten year old who looks like six and that the child has no understanding of time or interval (3). These restatements disclose that the child is basically in severe imprisonment with little resources, causing it to have unappealing body features and little knowledge of the outside world. Likewise, the description of the civilians who visit the child implement the central message of the story as well.
Next, the narrator delineates the spectators as they first see the child in mentioning, “No matter how well the matter has been explained to them, these young spectators are always shocked and sickened at the sight. They feel anger, outrage, impotence, despite all the explanations.” (4). This quote exhibits the sorrow the people feel and expresses the observers’ emotions toward atrocious things, especially since this eyesore is presumably one of the first unsatisfying things that has occurred in their life. The narrator adds that, “Often the young people go home in tears, or in a tearless rage, when they have seen the child and faced this terrible paradox” but “Sometimes also, a man or woman...falls silent for a day or two, and then leaves...They walk straight out of the city of Omelas.”(4). This quote exemplifies what the citizens who visit the child do after they return home by explaining their attitude, communication, and actions. Thus, the characterization of the child and its visitors endorse that evil is the source of all good.
“The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula Le Guin is a prime example of using literary devices to convey the theme of the story. Her application of situational irony, foil, and characterization convey that evil is the root of all good. This lesson is demonstrated in the story so the reader can learn that opportunities can be too good to be true and encourages the reader to always search for the true source of a good deal, candidate, or proposal. Moreover, it gives the reader a new perspective for the reader when making decisions or comparing opportunities.