Ursula LeGuins The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas is a story of a town that one could compare to a town in a fairy tale. All of the people there are very happy, carefree, and joyful. However, there is a very dark and sad secret that only these people know about.
The story is narrated by a person that never reveals their identity. It is assumed that the narrator is an occupant of this town because of the account he or she gives of the activities taking place. However, the narrator does inform us, the readers, that he or she is unfamiliar with the laws of Omelas. Perhaps, this could mean that this person is not an Omelas resident after all. The people of Omelas are currently in the middle of celebrating the Festival of Summer. The narrator describes a very busy and festive scene in the beginning of the story. Children are outside running and playing, there are horses parading around, boats are also there, and there are decorations all over. The people are all in very good spirits, and enjoying one anothers company. The way that everything is going on and how happy and joyous everyone is reminds me of a fairy tale Once upon a time, long ago, there was a city called Omelas, and all of its inhabitants were always happy and nothing seemed to get them down, or so it seemed.
Equating the people of Omelas to utopia would be a perfect description, except for the one little flaw. This utopian town was able to exist and flourish due to the little secret that they based their happiness upon. There is a child that is kept locked away in a dark basement room the size of a broom closet. This is child is always kept here, and never allowed to leave or have any interactions with the people of Omelas. People from Omelas come to see this child all the time children as young as 8 years old. To see a child being forced to live in such conditions has an effect on some of the people that see this child. The child is old enough to know its mother because it does ask for her from time to time. The child even makes statements to get the attention of someone to help him or her I will be good. Please let me out. Yet, no one ever speaks a word to the child. The people of Omelas are shocked when they are exposed to this child. Some deal with the issue by simply not speaking of it, and there are some that just walk away. Those that walk away are not able to be happy and enjoy this utopia knowing that there is a child suffering and no one will help him or her. Its as if the town bases it happiness off of that one childs suffering. To sacrifice their own happiness for the sake of a helpless child is not an option. This is what causes some to walk away. Perhaps there is a feeling of guilt to accompany the shock that turns out to be too much for those to deal with.
In the beginning, Omelas seems to be the perfect place to live in. However, it really were perfect, the secret of the locked away child would never be. This town is so consumed with simply being happy that they refuse to trade a piece of their happiness to help out one person a helpless child. Omelas turns out to be the very opposite of utopia. In all, the town is not what it appears to be.
Works Cited
LeGuin, Ursula. The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas. Select Writers of the Twentieth
Century: A Brief Anthology. Saint
Leo University. Boston, MA. Pearson Custom Publishing, 2005.
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