For instance, the narrator admits that they don’t know where those people are going, the ‘ones who walk away from Omelas’.īut Ursula K. Indeed, the narrator is what we might call an ‘uncertain narrator’ (as distinct from an unreliable narrator), because they readily confess to the limits of their knowledge about Omelas and its practices. Of course, there is no rhyme or reason why the city’s happiness and prosperity should be dependent on the misery of one child. MASTERWORKS), which contains some of the finest SF short stories of the late twentieth century. The story, by the way, is available in Le Guin’s bumper collection, The Wind’s Twelve Quarters and The Compass Rose (S.F. How should we respond to this troubling and powerful story? Before we provide an analysis of ‘The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas’, it might be worth recapping the story’s plot. Le Guin’s best-known stories, and it has the force of a modern myth: indeed, Le Guin herself, in her note to the story, used the term ‘psychomyth’ to describe it. ‘The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas’ is one of Ursula K. But the idea behind the story came from both Fyodor Dostoevsky and from the nineteenth-century psychologist, William James. Le Guin’s 1973 short story ‘The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas’, came from her reading a road sign for Salem, Oregon, (‘Salem, O.’) in her car’s rear-view mirror. Omelas, the distinctive-sounding but entirely fictional city in Ursula K. Seemingly, the knowledge that any attempt to alleviate the child’s suffering would be futile motives for their departure.Writers can get ideas from the strangest of places. They do not subscribe to the dogma of permissible crime. Their decision to leave shows that to them, the life of the child is as important as the lives of the masses. No one seems to be concerned with their destination or whereabouts after they have left. They march out of the city into the darkness with a strong resolve never to come back. Clearly, the beautiful city of Omelas is propped by the suffering of the child, and any attempt to liberate the child would be tantamount to destroying the city.Ī somber mood prevails when the narrator relates the plight of the people who, after beholding the tortured child, choose to walk away. The idea of sacrificing an individual to deliver a pleasurable life to the masses dominates the story. This scenario causes one to wonder whether the child is privy to the reason behind this agonizing existence. It is baffling to imagine that people would comfortably lead happy lives at the expense of a poor child wasting away in seclusion. Therefore, the child is a sacrifice aimed at giving Omelas its pomp and color. The residents of Omelas strongly believe that their good fortune depends on the child’s devastating agony. Apparently, they all understand the reason behind the child’s agony. However, as already noted, the narrator does not mention their destination. A considerable number of the residents leave the city after seeing the child. Some simply ignore the child’s suffering while others cry, but do nothing further to help. It turns out that the entire city of Omelas was aware of the child’s plight because most of the city’s residents had seen the child. For argument’s sake, the child could have been a girl.Īs the story unfolds, the narrator delineates the reason behind the child’s suffering, thereby giving insight into the theme of the story. The narrator does not mention the child’s sex but points out that the child is naked and has sore buttocks due to prolonged sitting on her excrement. This child lives on a diet of a half bowl of cornmeal and grease per day. The story assumes a morbid tone when the narrator describes a sad scenario about a young child who is locked in an unkempt dark cellar with little room for movement. Consequently, it became apparent that Omelas is a corrupt society in which pleasure is sought without any consideration of its possible ramifications. Intriguingly, the dwellers of Omelas do not revolt against such behavior. Peace and happiness abound in the midst of corruption, thriving drug business, and weird sexual escapades, which involve the religious class as well. However, the blissful impression begins to wane when the narrator discloses that some ills such as prostitution are tolerated in the city. The city enjoys a peaceful and harmonious coexistence. The initial impression that the story creates is augmented by the idea that unlike prosperous cities of the world that thrive under slavery and dictatorship, Omelas has no king, police, or slaves. There is great music, and both the young and the old tread the beautiful streets in dance. For example, in the first paragraph, the narrator depicts the serenity that is characteristic of the city in the morning.