We've now read 4 short stories, and you'll have a quiz on them next class ("Tick-Tock Man," "Red Death," "Bartleby" and "Omelas"). This post is on "Omelas," specifically, the question of how we should interpret the Child imprisoned in the basement:
In one corner of the little room a couple of mops, with stiff, clotted, foul-smelling heads, stand near a rusty bucket. The floor is dirt, a little damp to the touch, as cellar dirt usually is. The room is about three paces long and two wide: a mere broom closet or disused tool room. In the room a child is sitting. It could be a boy or a girl. It looks about six, but actually is nearly ten. It is feeble-minded. Perhaps it was born defective or perhaps it has become imbecile through fear, malnutrition, and neglect. It picks its nose and occasionally fumbles vaguely with its toes or genitals, as it sits haunched in the corner farthest from the bucket and the two mops. It is afraid of the mops. It finds them horrible. It shuts its eyes, but it knows the mops are still standing there; and the door is locked; and nobody will come. The door is always locked; and nobody ever comes, except that sometimes-the child has no understanding of time or interval – sometimes the door rattles terribly and opens, and a person, or several people, are there. One of them may come and kick the child to make it stand up. The others never come close, but peer in at it with frightened, disgusted eyes. The food bowl and the water jug are hastily filled, the door is locked, the eyes disappear. The people at the door never say anything, but the child, who has not always lived in the tool room, and can remember sunlight and its mother's voice, sometimes speaks. "I will be good," it says. "Please let me out. I will be good!" They never answer. The child used to scream for help at night, and cry a good deal, but now it only makes a kind of whining, "eh-haa, eh-haa," and it speaks less and less often. It is so thin there are no calves to its legs; its belly protrudes; it lives on a half-bowl of corn meal and grease a day. It is naked. Its buttocks and thighs are a mass of festered sores, as it sits in its own excrement continually. They all know it is there, all the people of Omelas. Some of them have come to see it, others are content merely to know it is there. They all know that it has to be there. Some of them understand why, and some do not, but they all understand that their happiness, the beauty of their city, the tenderness of their friendships, the health of their children, the wisdom of their scholars, the skill of their makers, even the abundance of their harvest and the kindly weathers of their skies, depend wholly on this child's abominable misery. Give your interpretation of this allegory in the comments below. Who or what does the child represent, and what is "our" relationship to it? Are we the people of Omelas? What would it mean for us to "walk away" from the city based on this child's pain - and is that what we should do? Please also come up with an idea for your compare/contrast midterm essay on two of these stories! We'll be developing and outlining those essays next class, so be ready. Good luck!
41 Comments
cyntaia
1/17/2017 09:12:32 am
The story Omelas is a utopian city filled with joy and delight, where occupiers are smart and cultured. Everything about Omelas is pleasing, except for the secret of the city, the good fortune of Omelas requires that a single unfortunate child be kept in perpetual filth, darkness and misery, and that all her citizens should be told of this on coming of age. After the truth was exposed, most of the people of Omelas were originally shocked and disgusted, but are ultimately able to come to terms with the fact and decide to live their lives in such a manner as to make the suffering of the unfortunate child worth it. Some citizens, young or old, silently walk away from the city, and no one knows where they went. The story ends with "The place they go towards is a place even less imaginable to us than the city of happiness. I cannot describe it at all. It is possible it does not exist. But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas." The ending is so weird because even though they were exposed, they still make it seem like their world is the only world that exist.
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Harrison Jones
1/17/2017 09:37:49 am
The city of Omelas is just like any country, even like the United States. The Child represents the suffering and pain that is required for us to enjoy the luxuries we have, whether it's a worker in China or a miner in Africa. We don't want them to suffer, but we either feel that we'd rather have the happiness it provides us, or that there is nothing we can do. The few who walk away have gained the guilt that the people of Omelas try so hard to keep away, and they don't want to deal with the shame or have to live at the expense of others, so they leave. It is probably the morally correct thing to do, however chances are few will ever do it.
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sinead henderson
1/17/2017 09:42:07 am
Omelas is a city full of people who's happiness relies on one child's suffering in a room below the city. The whole time I was reading the story I was thinking how can this be. To me the child represents an excuse, They use the child as an excuse to be happy, they don't know how to be happy on their own. They seem to think that "its" suffering will make them happy because they know they're fortunate enough to not be in a tiny room with barely any food or water and have to sit in dirt all day everyday, no sunlight, no one to talk to, and only little memory. You are allowed to go see the child but you can't dare speak a word to "it' seeing the child makes some people move out of the city. I am sure after that you realize seeing the child will just make you unhappy so that's why they move. The child is an excuse to be happy which I am sure they could figure out without the child suffering all alone.
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Evelyn Sullivan
1/18/2017 05:03:39 pm
This story is definitely a big plot twist near the end, I was expecting it to be a happy story based on the happy, idyllic place the author describes at first. Everyone is part of a social contract where everything stays idyllic in their city as long as this little child basically starves(barely any food, but not none) sitting in its own feces, crying, confused, and trapped in a broom size space forever with no knowledge why. I believe the authors purpose of writing this is to show how we ourselves act sometimes. Like we watched that video in class of the Africans mining for substance to make an iPhone, but they are slowly dying from that and don't get paid enough while we're enjoying our luxery phone and apple is enjoying their new mansion and Ferrari from the sales and money. I interpret it that they basically swipe off what this child is going through as long as they get their perfect life untouched. It's similar to the word, people swipe off the true morbid things happening caused by our luxeries and happiness. I believe the author was definitely trying to open people's eyes to something that deep down they knew was happening which I think worked, because I realized how horrible some people are really treated just so I can get what I want. Even if it's less severe, like that guy David brooks said, a big company lets off an employee and now a whole family who depended on that is screwed, or courageous men who are getting killed as innocent in a war SO were safe. As for the people who walk off, I think it's the people who. Have opened their eyes and see how screwed up this is, maybe they're walking to this unknown place wanting to make a change, or change the self. Overall though really interesting story.
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Colleen Dougan
1/18/2017 05:04:00 pm
The town of Omelas is all based on the happiness being dependent on the suffering of one unlucky child. Most people try to avoid the thought of that child, but some exclusive people look to it. Right after they see the child, however, they leave the community. Other than the child, the town is full of delight and pleasure. This story written by Ursula K. Le Guin was meant to be an allegory of how people tend to hide how unhappy they truly are. Seeing the suffering of a child just shows those people of how messed up life is. It is easier to live in a life that has no suffering than living in a world that does. That is why the citizens refused to see a suffering child.
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kayleigh Murray
1/18/2017 05:19:14 pm
Omelas is a city where people walk the streets with happiness. Although it is filled with happiness there is one down side of the city which takes place in the basement. In the basement, a child is tortured to make everyone realize how good the world is. The child is placed down there with little food and water, no light, dirty mops, and a muddy ground. I believe that the child is used to show everyone the importance of the happiness they have because they aren’t treated that way. Everyone gets to know about the child because once the right age, you are told and able to go see him/her but aren’t allowed to talk to “it”. Some people leave the city after seeing the child because they don’t believe in it and many ignore it and go on living happily in the city.
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Jackie Prestininzi
1/18/2017 05:38:26 pm
In the short story of Omelas, the child hidden in the corner, being unacknowledged represents negativity that our society and government don't want to see. Our government wants nothing more than to seem like a Utopian Society. The government and even the people in society want to live life without negativity and worrying about other issues in the world. To be completely honest, people are selfish and don't want to worry about anyone other than themselves. Therefore the citizens of Omelas who are ignoring the child in the basement, are present day society. In Omelas the citizens walk away from the struggling child and just try to forget about him. For us to “walk away” from the city based on the child's pain, in today's present society it would mean for us to “wake up”. People would have to stop worrying about themselves and their happiness and start caring about the world around them. In today's society, we should “walk away”. It's important for us to care about the world around us because we are very fortunate living in New Jersey. Other places in the world are not as fortunate as us and it’s important to help them live the best life they can.
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Bella Fernandes
1/18/2017 05:39:01 pm
The city of Omelas is like no other place: perfect, fulfilled with success, talent, happiness, and absolute joy. Although it seemed perfect throughout most of the story, the author reveals the truth about this town. In order for the town to thrive they have to make a "sacrifice" which is completely in their control, as they come face to face with this sufferring human and make a choice to either turn their cheek or simply walk away. This story can relate to us because as the child is sitting there completely helpless, there are children working under terrible pay just so us, as a first world country, can have all of the means and materials necessary for our personal pleasure. "The ones who walk away from Omelas" represents the people, in real life, who go against this and and decide to stop involving themselves in the purchases of these materials, but dont do anything straight forward to save these children in awful conditions.
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Quinn Moore
1/18/2017 06:28:26 pm
The city of Omelas is described as an ideal world, but is this truly possible? Everyone dreams to live in a world where all worry is gone and true happiness is is all around us. In Omelas this gift is granted to their society, but it comes at a cost. A young boy is sacrificed and isolated underground for the sake of everyone’s happy life. While reading this short story I sympathized the child suffering in order for others to live in luxury and found myself looking for a villian to blame. All the citizens either decided that the pain of one is worth the satisfaction of many or decided leave and abandon the boy and the city rather than deal with their guilt. It is hard to decipher the evil vs. the good in this situation.When it comes time the citizens find out about the boy under the streets of their wonderful life it is easy to run away from this truth rather than stray from their comfortable life and save the child. Those who decided to selfishly stay knowing the circumstances of their utopian paradise can also be seen as the evil in the story because they choose to have their wants which aren’t necessities at the price of a life. Is this was really a supreme world there wouldn’t have to be torment and misery at all. Omelas symbolizes the idea that all good comes with consequences and nothing is perfect.
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Charlotte Jansky
1/18/2017 07:03:07 pm
The ‘child in the basement” in the story The People Who Walked Away From Omelas, is a symbol of those who suffer for the happiness of a larger group of people. In the story, the child suffers alone in a dark basement. It is common knowledge among the town that the child is there, and many people visit him. They also know that the child must stay there so that the happiness of Omelas stays steadfast. I believe that we are all the people of Omelas. Sometimes, we choose to carry on with ‘business as usual’ and not bother ourselves with the thoughts of others suffering for our happiness. Some choose to think “that is just how it has to be” and ignore the hardship and distress of the sufferers. Others, try and do something about it to better the lives of those who are suffering. These are the ones who left Omelas and just walked into the darkness towards the mountains. They are the ones who want to leave the situation even if their path is not clear or have a guaranteed happy ending. We see this in our day-to-day lives all the time. For example, the Lithium batteries in our smartphones are dug up by children in the depths of the mines in Africa. Although many people know this depressing fact, we just go on in our day-to-day lives and ignore that hundreds of people are suffering just so that we can all have the luxury of our smartphones. If we were to “walk away” like the people of Omelas, we could maybe raise awareness or find these exploited individuals new jobs.
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Marc Brewer
1/19/2017 08:16:20 am
In "Omelas" I believe that the child represents the freedom that man is born with, however it is locked up by the chains of Rousseau's social contract, where we give up some of our natural rights and freedom for society. We are the people of Omelas who have signed away our creativity and freedom for safety in civilization. However when the few who find disgust in the restraint of our natural rights, they leave omegas to live in complete control of their actions.
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Marc Brewer
1/19/2017 08:19:36 am
The decision on whether to stay or leave relies on the person's dependance on society and belief in natural rights and how the two are balanced.
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Michael Gilson
1/19/2017 08:27:13 am
In Omelas it is about a Utopian city which everyone is happy and has fun. There are no problems at a but under the city lays a sad, locked up child that is fed once a day and lives horribly. People that are adults know he is down there and can visit or neglect him. Some people are so horrified they leave the city. They cannot let him go since it will ruin the city of its happiness and such. Sometimes knowing the truth can hurt. I believe the kid represents denial. We can all act happy and like nothing bothers us but all have something sad on the inside. The child is those things we don't want people to know and it may make us feel guilty but this why we thrive. It may be like if a bully makes fun of someone it makes him feel better but someone else feel awful. Some people can not live like that and are nice to all but some are ok with that to make themselves pride which makes them selfish. I believe it denial of how we can do horrible things but put it to the side and act like we don't know.
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Jack Niesz
1/19/2017 08:37:22 am
The city of Omelas is the perfect place for the average person. Omelas is a worldly symbol. It symbolizes a minority of unfortunate people who suffer for the majority. In this short story, one child suffers for the whole city. The child is treated as if they weren't human. When some of the citizens of Omelas see "it" they are appalled by this situation and flee the city. Others choose to block it out from their minds and continue to live as they had before they saw "it".
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Bella Ybarra
1/19/2017 08:48:13 am
I believe that the child represents greed and selfishness as the human race as a whole. All humans would potentially commit an act of cruelty to save what they love and cherish. Although it's entirely wrong, it is a primal instinct to protect what's yours. We are the people of Omelas, for these acts of cruelty happen so often that they're completely besides us, just as the child of Omelas is. It's not important to us, and sympathy and kindness are often lost. They're a gem that is far too scarce in our society. For us to walk away would to be completely passive and to let disaster happen to us, to not avoid it out of selfish motive. That would be the right thing to do. To walk away and face the problems like a man.
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Galina Gordon
1/19/2017 01:27:57 pm
in Omelas, the child is described as defenseless and suffering while outside of the dingy basement everyone else gets to celebrate the first day of summer. I feel this represents a very common issue of ignorance and neglecting to know what's behind the curtains. In today's world, there are countries that have buildings reaching the skies, and technology very well developed that people in the past couldn't even dream of. While there are many people living in those types of cities, there are also many other countries who can barely produce clean water for a small village.
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Anna Moore
1/19/2017 02:00:34 pm
The story of the ones who walk away from Omelas represents the balance of lives involved in today's society. The child and perfect city of Omelas show the yin and yang of life. In the great city all of the joy comes from the suffering of one poor child. I think the people of Omelas represent the higher class of people who have easy lives. The child represents the lower class who make the upper classes lives easy because they do the jobs no one wants to do. Similar to the people of Omelas the upper class doesn't like to think about all the sacrifices that are made so they can have a easy life. They don't think about the children suffering to make products that we wear or the low paid workers working the jobs that form the basis of any country. Children in Africa risks their lives just to provide us with luxuries such as smart phones and yet everyone ignores this fact to avoid guilt. The reason the life of the upper class is so great because it is much better than those in a poor class. Everyone has a part in society but only a very small part of it can reap the benefits. Those same benefits of the higher class also is greatly dependent on the suffering of those below because you can't have one without the other. Otherwise everyone would be happy or everyone would be sad which would mean the same thing if everyone had the same emotions. The people who walk away from Omelas are the ones who realize the injustice of the pain of those people in which the society is dependent upon. They will leave that lifestyle behind and try to find a more guilt-free life or a way to give justice to the people suffering. Unfortunately to maintain the balance of life, the happy and wealthy people must have a counterpart of people in desolation and eternal torment.
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Grace Noglows
1/19/2017 02:35:19 pm
This child represents someone who is in pain so that we can find happiness. “Our” relationship to it is that we see people being harmed everyday and most of us do nothing about it. We just go on with our normal day. I do believe that we are the people of Omelas. I believe that it would mean to leave the situation or finally figure out that there is stuff happening in the world that does not involve happiness when we “walk away” from the city based on this child’s pain.
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Sima Vaidya
1/19/2017 02:41:30 pm
“Omelas” is about a perfect city, where everyone is happy and worry-free. In the short story, there is a paragraph that talks about a small child who is locked up in a basement, and is sometimes tortured by the people. They know this happens, but choose to ignore it. They know the child has to be there and their emotions, relationships, health, city, etc. depend on the misery of the child. The child is a symbol for peoples fear, sadness, and discomfort. They let their anger out on this poor, innocent kid who has been locked up for many days, months, or years of its life. It tries to escape, wanting freedom, but the people torture it and keep it from escaping. The citizens of Omelas hide these feelings deep inside themselves. They pretend to be happy and joyful, but in actuality, they are just like every other person - someone who has bad days and good days. Making the child suffer shows how unhappy the people truly are. These people are not perfect. They do not live in a perfect society where everyone is living joyfully. Many in today’s society represent the people of Omelas. They show the world that they are perfect, happy, and carefree, but in real life, they are just like every other person. They do care about others and what they say, and are not always happy. The people who “walk away” from society show that they have experienced the child’s pain. They have gone through sadness, pain, and sorrow and are now ready to tackle real world problems. They realized that Omelas was a place full of imagination; nothing was real because the people never showed their true selves. This is what society should do- express true feelings, never hold anything in. Everyone has flaws and days where they are happy and days that they are sad. Nobody is perfect, and life too is not perfect.
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Desiree Marshall
1/19/2017 05:22:37 pm
I think the child in the corner represents those individuals who have to/are suffering in the world to insure the happiness of others. The children in the corners are the workers who are paid close to nothing to produce products that have a retail sale for more than they may make in a lifetime. And like the people of Omelas, we know what is happening to these children and we chose not to say anything or do anything about it because to do so would be sacrificing our own happiness, and we don't want to do that. Even if doing that is the right thing to do. Instead of walking away like the people of Omelas, we just choose to look away. The exploitation of children and people in third world countries is so common, that even when talked about no one wants to speak out against it. This has been occurring for so long that it's become normalized. We don't have any kind of attachment to these children in the corners, and I think that's part of the problem. Because to have a link to these children would mean that on some level we would have to care about their well-being, and often we find ourselves not wanting to make that connection. In a way we are almost worse than the people of Omelas, at least they had the guts to walk away and choose not to actively participate in a system that exploits others for the happiness of some. We don't even have the courage to go against this. To walk away from what is going on would be a feat that not many of us are ready, or will ever be ready for and that's the sad truth.
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Amira
1/19/2017 05:29:03 pm
We are the people of Omelas because we, like the people of Omelas benefit from others suffering and like the people of Omelas we just stand by when we know about the suffering. In the story "Walking away from Omelas" the child represents the group of people who need to suffer so others can enjoy certain things in life. An example of this is shown with phones. There are children and adults outside the U.S that work in mines and cluttered disgusting factories for little pay. In the process of mining and working in factories they expose themselves to dangerous chemicals, smoke, etc, all so we (the people of the U.S and Omelas) can have fancy phones. This is exactly what happens with the boy trapped in a small dirty room in Omelas. In this instance what we need to do to walk away is live a simpler life without the materials or with more expensive materials because of cleaner factories and conditions and better pay.
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Julia Rousseau
1/19/2017 06:12:54 pm
Omelas is a Utopian city that relies solely on the misery of one child. Somehow the people have entered into a social contract that allows them to remain in their beautiful, perfect city as long as a single child is left to rot in a small, wet basement. The child represents the fraction of our world that suffers to allow the rest to be happy and functioning well. For example, little children in Africa must mine for minerals that are used to power our cell phones. They endure terrible conditions which eventually lead to their death so the rest of us can have a cell phone that is attached to us at the hip. This single child in the small world of Omelas is meant to make us realize that we live suppressing the misery of others that we ultimately know is going on. The people who walk away are the ones who take action about the injustice going on in our world. They wander to the unknown into the mountains to "rise above" the horrible actions just as the people fight back, not knowing what will come of it. All we can do is realize what's happening and take a stand against it. People just accept the fact that there must be pain for beauty but there must be another way to live and we must find it.
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Aislinn Butler
1/19/2017 06:34:42 pm
Omelas is a city that is described as the perfect place to live. Everything you could possibly want and desire is there. The only exception is a child that lives in misery in a large house. Everyone must experience this child in order to live happily. This child represents the sad truth that society isn't perfect. We can either accept that, and ignore it and live in naive happiness, or we can walk away and do something about it. The child shows that nothing is perfect no matter how far we go to make it. There are always flaws, and we can either choose to ignore it or change it. The child is the people in poverty, the streets that are flooded with trash, and the unfair treatment of people and animals. It is the racism, the sexism, the rejection of different beliefs. It is all of the worst parts of society. We generally accept that this is the way the world is, and although we all see the pain, we choose to ignore it because it does not affect us. Those who walk away from the city are those who don't believe this is the way and want to do something to change it. They do not approve of these actions. These are the people that need to be recognized and followed. Those are the people who walk away from the child, the pain. Those are the ones who walk away from Omelas. <--- See what I did there?
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Aidan Butler
1/19/2017 06:39:09 pm
In Ursula Le Guins's "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" the society in which the joyous people live represents the goals and dreams of human beings. The child that is locked away in the basement represents the price that must always be paid for the things desired by man. The people's happy lives represent the lives we strive to live and the goals we want to reach. The child is the consequences of the happy lives we want to live. The child could represent actual people that have gotten hurt by your actions to be successful or bad things that have happened in general due to your efforts for a happy existence. The people who walk away could represent those who walk away from the path of success that could hurt others and live a life of solitude or charity. The story is an allegory about how in life to reach your goals there will always be people or things that are negatively effected by your choices to be happy, whether you know it or not.
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Jacob Swartz
1/19/2017 07:00:39 pm
Omelas is a total Utopian society taking place in what the narrator explains as a joyful summer festival. The town consists of people who are simply happy, worry free yet clueless of anything besides being good minded. However, as the narrator consistently explains delightful situations and places in which these gleeful people accommodate themselves with, a dark figure is introduced. This figure is simply an innocent kid. The speaker explains how the kid lives in a basement of a building located in the town. In the basement there are withering mops which symbolize the struggles the boy is going through, and how they soak in everything. The same could be said about the boy in the sense that all of the sorrows and problems the clueless-ly happy people above him face are directed to him. Personally, I do not think we are similar to those people in the story, because what our society try's to teach us is that problems cant possibly be faced or fixed at all if they are pushed down forever. As a result problems drive our society, we learn from them everyday, and these problems, they could be ideas or even people.
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Brendan Loftus
1/19/2017 07:02:26 pm
Crikey Mate, some of y'all wrote a lot.
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Shea Grant
1/19/2017 07:04:05 pm
I think this allegory is representative of the relationship between the United States and third-world countries. I also think it contains elements of how we, as citizens of the US, sometimes choose to ignore problems occurring outside of our nation because they are not directly affecting us. For example, the child is a third world country. Sometimes the media shines light on what is happening to the child, being a person that looks at it, or even sits to talk to it. Then, they leave and they accept that some people need to be on top and some people need to be on the bottom for the pyramid to even exist at all. Sometimes I look at socio-economic situations between countries as a pyramid because it is easier to put things on level rather into exact category. We believe, as the people who come and look as we are subjects of the media, that said people in said third world country need to work in dangerous areas with terrible equipment in order for us on the other side to be happy and affluent. I also think that those who walk away from Omelas are people who dedicate a part of themselves to ending the pyramid. For example, joining the Peace Corps, creating a charity, or simply refusing to buy products made with unfair treatment and labor. All of these things create a slight collapse in the pyramid- a citizen lost from Omelas.
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Summer Smith
1/19/2017 07:08:15 pm
The city of Omelas is a happy city filled with happy people with no worries... except for one people. Underneath the city lies a child who starved and left alone. In order to keep the city and the citizens happy this one child must suffer. I think that the child represents the group of people that suffer and sacrifice their lives for the things that would make someone happy and live a perfect life. For example, an Iphone would make many people happy. But the people making the phone sacrifice their lives making the phone by working in an unsafe factory. The child represents these factory workers, and all other people who work in unsafe condition and sacrifice their lives for societies happiness. I feel that the people who "walk away from Omelas" are the people who stand up against what is wrong. For example, in the story, dozens of people visit the suffering child daily; but not one of these people speaks out and tries to help the child. If someone did try to help the child they would have "walked away from Omelas". They would have left the perfectly happy city.
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Christina W.
1/19/2017 07:35:19 pm
In the perfect city of Omelas, there is a little boy who holds all the misery of the entire city in his body. In my opinion, the little boy represents the minority in today's society. It doesn't matter what minority, because now we have so many, in order to see the similarities between them and the little boy. Our society is so much like Omelas. We pretend that our lives are perfect, despite us secretly knowing there are times when things aren't going well. We pretend were are fine and we put our misery onto a certain group we think is less than us, such as the little boy. We don't respect them or treat them kindly. Aware of these actions, we believe we are better than them and they deserve to feel our misery that we choose not to show. Therefore, whether it's a little boy or a huge group of a minority race that receives society's misery, there will always be someone who isn't treated properly. Some readers will agree with the choices of the people who left Omelas, but I don't agree. What is to be done after they walk away? Just like we hear all the time in anti-bullying demonstrations, the bystander needs to stand up for the victim; they need to tell the bully to stop their action, not walk away. Therefore, I believe in order to help the little boy's misery, the people of Omelas should have stood up for those who believed that the little boy deserved the misery, in order for any change to take place.
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Lauren Marcolus
1/19/2017 07:59:23 pm
While the article we read relates the short story "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omalas" by Ursula Le Guin to the suffering of laborers in other countries to provide Americans with advanced technology and great luxuries, I read the story keeping in mind the relationship between the individual and society. I saw the child as representing the individuality humans have to give up in order to be a part of society. Members of a society are stripped of certain freedoms when laws are passed and decisions are made. Their voices of opinion in political matters are muffled and although government does what is right for the majority, the minority will always suffer. I think this short story represents how most people can see what they are giving up in order to live in and be protected by society, but they decide to ignore it. It shows how so many people are afraid to question society and will accept injustice if it keeps them safe. This majority of citizens would prefer to live predictable and comfortable lives if it means being relatively happy and carefree. And if they must turn their cheeks to a suffering child to do so, they will make up excuses that justify locking up the child. The story also explains that many young people are devastated after they go see the child, but their tears "dry when they begin to perceive the terrible justice of reality, and accept it." As we grow older, we are taught to accept society and give up the fight against the government to establish what we crave most, that ideal government that "governs least." The joyous citizens of Omalas represent those who give into society by turning their cheeks to denied rights and flawed government. On the other hand, there are the few people in the story that actually see that there is something morally wrong with keeping a child locked up and leave Omalas for a place "even less imaginable to most of us than the city of happiness." These people represent those who break free from a restricting society in order to embrace their individuality and search for true freedom, whether this is done by removing oneself from society altogether or protesting to make a difference in the government. I believe those who "walk away" are the most important and admirable for recognizing injustice and acting upon it whilst everyone else is unwilling to stand up for what is right if it threatens their happiness.
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Hailey Chace
1/19/2017 09:11:20 pm
In the story Omelas everyone is happy and filled with joy. However, one child is locked in a basement and left to be unhappy and alone. I believe this child is a representation of all the people’s bad feelings and sadness in Omelas. I believe that everyone can’t be happy all the time. Due to this the child has been created to represent the bad times. The child can also be a representation of depression or depressed people. “We” have a relationship with the child, because of the connection to it’s sadness. “We” can relate to the child because like it, “we” can get sad as well. However, I don’t think we are the people of Omelas because we are not all happy all the time. Therefore, we don’t have a child that suffers while we are happy. Throughout our lives we all experience the good, bad, happy and sad. Overall, I think the child is a manifestation of the people of Omelas unhappy feelings.
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Murray Elinson
1/20/2017 01:12:53 am
"The Ones who Walk Away from Omelas" is a story about a bright and joyful town with an evil twist. Although the towns people are enjoying their lives, there is a child constantly suffering in exchange for a happy town. This child represents the people in our world that suffer and go through the worst and the fortunate ones benefit from their suffering. A good example of this is the people and kids who work day and night for little pay in factories and mines. From those raw materials and products, the people who live in developed countries get these resources as a result of the suffering of thousands. First world countries benefit a lot off of these people who suffer and that is what Omelas is like, the town gets a great life but the child has to suffer for that to happen. I believe that we are the people of Omelas because we benefit from other's suffering. Also we realize this problem like the people in Omelas but we do not act upon it to make it better like in the story. For people to walk away would be to stop benefiting from other's suffering like in Omelas. For example, one would have to stop buying products made in third world countries. I think that the answer to this situation is to work on changing third world countries into more developed societies, but we cannot just walk away because almost everything in our lives depend on that suffering, we just need to find a way to stop the suffering but get the same outcome.
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Craig Scharmann
1/20/2017 03:45:59 am
The City of Omelas may seem like an extravagant place where all your dreams can come true. And while it may be an awesome place on the outside, away from everyone's eyes hides a child who is experiencing extreme suffering. While everyone is out enjoying there lives and partying, this young feeble child is locked away in a room suffering in the worst way possible. I believe that this allegory of the child represents how people in today's society will use others as a crutch to get a leg up on in life. Why live such perfect lives when in the back of our minds, we know how someone somewhere in the world is suffering. Walking away from Omelas is equivalent to escaping the current world, and wandering to find a new one. Those who go out on a limb risk all of their wealth at Omelas to hopefully find a better place where everyone can live in harmony. Ultimately, although Omelas is not exactly like the current world, it proves to be very similar in certain aspects.
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Ethan Bennett
1/20/2017 05:47:58 am
The young child in "Omelas" is, without a doubt, a symbol for something of great significance. I believe the child represents poverty in a society. The people of Omelas are aware of the child's presence, the awful conditions in which it lives, and the fact that it did nothing to deserve such an existence. Occasionally, there are even some who go to look at the child, in all of its suffering. Although most of the people of Omelas feel awful for the child, no one does anything to help it- much like when people pass a homeless person on the street. As such, the relationship between the people of Omelas and the child is strikingly similar to the relationship between "us" and the homeless. However, there is a small number of people who "walk away" from, or leave, Omelas. I believe that these people represent the few members of society that only appear occasionally, and choose to separate themselves from this society of inequality.
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Sophia Morales
1/20/2017 05:50:27 am
I believe the child represented the negative aspect of the world that people to tend to ignore. Some people in higher classes forget that others are struggling and working for them so they can be at that higher status. They ignore the problems so they don't have to feel guilty. Almost as if their motto is its not me why should I care? In order for a cohesive society all members of society need to be heard even those struggling. Because a person is under do you does not make one better than the other. I believe this is seen in the Masque of the Red Death, those struggling with sickness are ignored and the healthy ones live apart from them hoping the problem goes away. The problem is not getting better in fact it is worsening in both situations. Eventually the ignorance of individuals will catch up to them and it will be seen in their society.
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Donovan Turner
1/20/2017 05:55:07 am
In "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas", the city of Omelas looks like the perfect city to live in. Everyone is happy and having fun. Omelas can represent what everyone wants in life. People want to live carefree lives and enjoy themselves. The child in the closet represents, in my opinion, two different things. One of those is the people you hurt in your pursuit of happiness. While your focused on your goal, you might end up hurting people. The child could be the consequences from the choices you make in your in your pursuit, or things that happen because of it. The child also can represent the children in China working in terrible conditions to make things that help us. By their suffering, are lives are made easier. The miners in Africa work to provide us with raw materials that we use. The ones that walk away after realizing this terrible truth are the people that believe there is something better in another place. They believe a change needs to be made and cannot live with the thought of exploiting another living person.
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Ethan Christensen
1/20/2017 08:14:16 am
Someone is always suffering for someone else's enjoyment; while the person enjoying it may even realize it they usually ignore it. That is whats happening in Omelas. It's a perfect world in every sense of the word except for one thing. One littlr boy is in constant suffering, and everyone knows it. Some just try and ignore while others can't stand it and leave. We see this in our world too. People in other countries are always working to make things we use every day. Most people ignore it and go on with their lives. Some people try to help those suffering. But in all there will always be someone who is getting the bad end of everything while someone is prospering. Even in Omelas if someone lets the boy go than everyone else's lives will become awful. So the question remains is it to give 1 person a sense of happiness for the suffering of others. It's a very hard question to answer. I believe keeping the boy there is the right thing to do. Even in the story it says if he's released he will die, so in all it might not be worth it to let the boy go.
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Seamus Fields
1/20/2017 08:36:03 am
The child in the basement in the city of Omelas does in fact represent all the bad things about human society, such as greed, power, etc. The people, in order to maintain a nice, healthy society, must keep this child locked away surrounded by its own misery. The reason people stay or leave is only based on SELF decision. These people because they, as their own being, decide what they are doing is the wrong thing. Those who stay are so focused on having their dream life, they don't care about the fate of other people's lives. The whole is about self-preservation and doing what is best for YOU and getting all that YOU want. When the author breaks of and tells you to create your own visualization of what the land and city look like, she is making you use that need you have for whatever you want.
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Patrick Sullivan
1/20/2017 09:56:29 am
After reading the passage Omelas, I realized that we live in a society extremely similar to Omelas. In the story Omelas there's a little boy that suffers. The only way that the town can live happily is for the little boy to continue to suffer. In our society we let kids suffer for our advances. For example, kids mine cobalt so that people higher in society can have luxuries like phones. As you can see in Omelas and our society we both live with the fact of knowing that our society only has luxuries because of kids suffering. If people were to walk away from our society, it would mean that they would stop letting kids suffer for them to have a good life. People need to stop letting kids suffer. Even though it would help the wealthy class out, they need to realize how it's unfair that they get to have luxuries because of kids suffering.
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Allie Cohen
1/24/2017 07:30:54 pm
The city of Omela's is perceived as a "perfect" city, that offers something for everyone. The state of the city remains the same, one filled with joy and opportunity, at the expense of an everlasting suffering, one of a child. The cities foundation relies on a child who suffers in a dank basement, his body eating its own muscles from starvation, with leathery skin, that withers more and more with each passing day. Ignorant, people use cognitive dissonance to refuse the idea of imperfection, as they have knowledge of this child, but continue on with their lives. Omela's indicates evil for happiness, but not in the obvious sense. Although people have the knowledge that a child suffers for their happiness, if the tables were turned, would the child be considered selfish? Many people, young, old, men, women, and everywhere in between visited the child, and once they had, would be scarred with guilt and sadness of the condition of the child. Some would part, recognizing the wrong in their illusion, others stayed. Both selfish, as one refused to participate, but refused to take action to help the child, while the others blatantly ignored the facts. It is clear that their is always a price for a prize; it is the extent and measures that people are willing to take is the mystery.
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Maja Hassell
11/21/2022 07:37:56 pm
I'm currently preparing for an english exam on The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas tomorrow and have just been reading these comments! Very interesting, but I think I only saw one comment acknowledge the fact that there has to be bad in order to measure the good. Also, the point reiterated many times that it was the minority suffering for the majority isn't that realistic. The Western World in comparison to impoverished parts of Asia and Africa is tiny, and the people that reap the rewards of others suffering is even smaller. I'm not an incredibly nihilistic person but I do believe that there is no other realistic way to keep society going. There is always going to be groups of people better or worse off than you are, and it is important to accept that. While the ones who walk away from their "utopia" of Omelas might be making the moral decision, their actions have no impact on the child or the people of Omelas. What is the point of walking away then? Some might argue that if everyone walked away from Omelas, positive change would happen, and maybe it would for a few minutes. Unfortunately the cycle would simply restart, with people doing awful jobs at the bottom and people reaping the rewards at the top. Society has always been like this, and it fascinates me that humans are constantly striving to achieve equality when it is a manufactured concept that has never been properly exercised. I'm not sure if anyone will ever read this reply but if they do they're probably thinking that I sound like a hardcore conservative, but if you really think about it, equality is never and has never actually been practised. Theories such as survival of the fittest prove this–in a dog eat dog world, the utopian society of Omelas can never be achieved, even if everyone walked away.
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