The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas Essay Examples

Ursula K. Le Guin

United States

Philosophical fiction

1973

With deliberately both vague and vivid descriptions, the narrator depicts a summer festival in the utopian city of Omelas, whose prosperity depends on the perpetual misery of a single child.

The darkness beyond Omelas symbolizes humanity’s unrealized political possibilities.

Individual vs Society. The utopian city of Omelas relies on a social contract according to which each person must accept that their city's happiness depends on the suffering of one child.
Coming of Age and Coming into Society.
Imagination and Allegory.
Happiness and Suffering.

“The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” posits that there can be no happiness without suffering. Even in her imagined city of perfect happiness, LeGuin insists that one child must suffer extreme neglect and torture so the other citizens may experience joy.

The main characters in “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” are the child, the people of Omelas, and the ones who walk away.