The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas By Ursula Le Guin

Certain people, throughout history, have been victimized for the “betterment” of society. Examples have been the Nazi’s and their belief of terminating the Jews or President Trump limiting immigration. In The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula Le Guin, the citizens of Omelas victimized and tortured one child for the “betterment” of their society. The Omelas people believed the isolation and torture of the child was necessary for their happiness. A similar situation could be when the United States put Japanese Americans into internment camps for the betterment of society. The government believed this was necessary for the wellbeing of the nation because of the threat Japan was to America during World War II. Both examples isolated individuals

for the overall security and wellbeing of their societies, contained people who ignored the issued, and had people who disagreed with the issue.

In The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, Le Guin described the people from Omelas. In the beginning, the description of these people led the reader to believe that these people were good-hearted, happy, hardworking people. However, when the story reaches the part when Le Guin described the Festival of Summer, the whole mood switched. She revealed, when describing the festival, that there was a child held captive in a basement that never sees the light of the day. This child is kept there because the people of Omelas believe that their happiness is dependent on keeping this child isolated. Le Guin wrote, “...they all understand that their happiness, the beauty of their city, the tenderness of their friendships, the health of their children,... depend wholly on this child's abominable misery” (Le Guin 3). To the people of Omelas, sacrificing the wellbeing of this child, which is extremely cruel, is necessary to them as they believe the child is the whole backbone of their society. They decide to

victimize a child off a belief that has no backed up proof and is basically just a superstition. This could connect to the United States putting the Japanese into internment camps. During World War II, the attack of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese started a fear in the United States. This fear caused the government to “take all people of Japanese descent into custody, surround them with troops, prevent them from buying land, and return them to their former homes at the close of the war” (“Japanese American Internment”). The belief behind this action could be connected to what the people of Omelas belief were. The United States put these people in these camps to isolate them because they believed the health and safety of their citizens and country were dependant on this. America put innocent Japanese Americans into these camps, which is similar to Omelas, as they trapped an innocent child in a basement.
In the story, most of the citizens of Omelas knew about this situation, however, they completely ignored it.

When the kids are young, around the age of eight to twelve, the child in the basement is explained to them. The kids, young adults, and even adults go and visit the child to see what is actually going on. Le Guin described the reaction when they go as “...these young spectators are always shocked and sickened at the sight. They feel disgust, which they had thought themselves superior to. They feel anger, outrage, impotence, despite all the explanations”. Even those people feel this way, nothing is done. It is said that they want to help, but yet again, nothing is ultimately done. The people of Omelas might be too scared to help as they are taught that the child secure the happiness and wellbeing of their society and everyone in it. Helping the child may seem as destroying their society to these young people. This could be connected to the Japanese internment camps because millions of citizens of the United States knew that innocent Japanese Americans were being wrongfully robbed of their homes and pushed into these camps. These people were completely isolated from society, as “The camps were surrounded by barbed-wire fences patrolled by armed guards who had instructions to shoot anyone who tried to leave” (“Japanese American Internment”). The child in Omelas was also completely isolated from society, as they locked him in a basement where he couldn’t open the door.

Both the people of Omelas and United States knew the situations that were at hand, however, the citizens of Omelas didn’t try to help the child due to the fear that society would suffer. The citizens of the United States chose to ignore the situation, or even allowed it, because people had a fear of Japan. Many felt it was necessary to do this to the Japanese for the betterment of society.
While there were many people ignored the issue Omelas, some people did not agree with what was going on. After the kids were exposed to the child dwelling in the basement, many of them would be distraught. The kids were described to be “...in tears, or in a tearless rage, when they have seen the child and faced this terrible paradox” (Le Guin 4). The kids who couldn’t handle the truth about their society ended up leaving. These people leaving were them showing that they do not agree with what their society was doing. They realized there is really nothing that could be done, as they wouldn’t want to potentially destroy their society because the superstition could possibly end up true. This could be connected to the Japanese internment camps because while many people did support putting the Japanese in camps, many people also opposed it. There were many protests, and in 1976, President Ford realized that he regretted the policy and compensated the Japanese Americans who were affected. President Ford said “We now know what we should have know then—not only was that evacuation wrong, but Japanese Americans were and are loyal Americans” (“Japanese American Internment”). The difference between Omelas and the United States in this instance is that the United States actually made change. They compensated the people affected. The people of Omelas, however, did nothing to change. People were constantly leaving Omelas in opposition to victimizing the child in the basement, as there was nothing else they could do.
Certain people in every society have been victimized to an extent. In the fictional city of Omelas and in the United States, people were victimized. In Omelas, the child who was locked in the basement for the betterment of society was victimized for the “betterment” of society. In the United States, Japanese Americans were victimized for the same reason. In both cases there were people who ignored the situation and there were those who completely opposed and attempted to do something about it. However, America made change, while Omelas did not.