Allegory in The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas Essay

Would You Walk Away?

The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas was written as a fictive allegory of the scapegoat as the "dilemma of the American conscience." Although the author, Le Guin, never literally states this dilemma; as a fiction writer she exemplifies, but never states, the problem.

If you lived in a land that as in every way you could possibly imagine perfect, if it was your own unique, custom-made Utopia and everyone was ecstatically happy because one small child was horribly unhappy and mistreated; They all know that it has to be there they all understand that their happiness, the beauty of their city the health of their children depend wholly on this childs abominable misery, (Guin, 229) would you give away all of this happiness and leave this land, because you objected? Would you walk away from Omelas?

Now we can relate this general question to the unique, particular predicament of American society. Lets start by comparing some of the racial discrimination that has occurred throughout the history of the United States. While many white people have been living extremely well, rates of African-American poverty, imprisonment and illiteracy have been disgracefully higher than that of the white Americans; because racist political, legal and educational systems have historically discriminated against African Americans throughout American history. While America has been a Utopian land of plenty for many rich whites, it has been a world of pain for many African-Americans who have been murdered, lynched and discriminated against or excluded from middle-class America.

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas also addresses the morality underlying political systems. The child has been said to represent the underclass in capitalistic societies, particularly in the United States, as well as the underdeveloped countries of the Third World.

Current capitalistic class discrimination allows rich corporate executives to earn hundreds of times more money than most of their employees, and an American economic system in which the wealthiest one percent of the population own an extremely disproportionate share of the total wealth of the country. Comparing this class, to the least wealthy half of the population, which typically shares less than a quarter of the Americans total wealth; which attends poorer schools, dies years earlier than the average upper-class American, has higher rates of infant mortality and imprisonment and is more likely to die as a result of serious illness because of inferior healthcare.

In both situations, where the happiness of the majority rests on the misery of a powerless minority, and the poor, underprivileged people are exploited and overlooked, by the wealthy and prosperous, the moral accountability of a society has vanquished. The success of a society in exchange for the misery of one child, as depicted in Omelas, has been exchanged for a smaller society, or group of individuals, and a larger child that is being mistreated and abused. The mistreatment is no longer one person it is now one race, religion, poverty class, gender.

By forcing readers to conjure their own Omelas, the author has forced them to consciously relate the story to their own personal experiences. While we do not live in a perfect or Utopian world, we live with morals and choices every day of our lives; and that even by not walking away; we support the ideals and the society we live in. Hopefully we can start to realize the things and people we take for granted every day and instill good values and morals onto our children and generations to come. Even in Omelas, it shows that children are still susceptible and intolerable to injustice. The tears of the young people "at the bitter injustice, dry, when they begin to perceive the terrible justice of reality, and to accept it.... Theirs is no vapid, irresponsible happiness. They know that they, like the child, are not free. They know compassion."