The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas By Ursula Le Guin

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What are you willing to give up for happiness? Will you give up your own happiness of someone else? The short story, " The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" by Ursula Le Guin, talks about the city of happiness: Omelas. Happiness is associated with the child's dilemma, the people's awareness of the child's state and the responsibility to face the consequences of knowing about the child. In this short story, the author correlates happiness with the child's dilemma. To show what happiness is, Le Guin starts to describe Omelas and the people in the city. Omelas is a joyful city and it is very similar to the imaginary city in fairy tales, according to the author. But, despite the happy thoughts of Omelas, there is a child living in a basement and is rather suffering for everyone's happiness. "Some of them understand why, and some do not, but they all understand that …show more content…

"They would like to do something for the child. But there is nothing they can do" (11th paragraph, 6th line). The author means that even though the people of Omelas know that the child is in pain, they are not able to help no matter how the child suffers in that room; however, not all people feel the anger of not being able to help the child or even feel hurt about the child when they visit him. Knowing that the child is already suffering, some people make him stand by kicking him. Along with the knowledge of the child's pitiful situation, people are also aware that if ever they take the child out of the basement, the beautiful and happy Omelas will be lost. "If the child were let free or comforted, Omelas would be destroyed" (Brooks, 8th paragraph). Since they cannot help the child, the people are torn between what is really needed: the child's freedom or everyone's

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