Symbolism In The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas

“The Ones Who Walk away from Omelas” is a short allegory by Ursula K. Le Guin about a utopian society that is filled with whatever your imagination can possibly fathom. Many people live in this utopia and are aware of the nightmarish secret it has in a dark room of one of the old houses in the utopia. The Utopia of Omelas is described to be very beautiful and can be whatever and however you portray it. The story is also an allegory of privilege, describing the privilege of being free while speaking in a metaphor. Omelas is the main setting of this short story the author describes, Omelas is a utopian society situated near a beautiful, shimmering sea.

According to the narrator, the sewing woman's house was in a “row of skinny houses on a mud alley” and the “rooms smelled of salted grease and old newspaper.” By describing the house’s unpleasant scent and unfavorable location, the author demonstrates how disgusting and unkempt the house is. Although no one would wish for a dirty house, unfortunately that is the world the sewing woman is living in. Additionally, there was a “postcard of orange trees in Florida” hung up on the wall. The beautiful, peaceful postcard of Florida contrasts with the reality of the dirty house.

Scrooge lives in a ‘gloomy suite of rooms in a lowering pile of building up a yard, where it had so little to be, that one could scarcely help fancying it must have run there when it was a young house, playing hide and seek with other houses, and forgotten the way out again.’ Scrooge’s personal loneliness is reflected through the personification of his residence and tells the reader that whereas Scrooge used to be somewhat jolly (pg 56-57), he has lost his way and has forgotten the way out, and has now turned into a gloomy miser, representing what most rich men would have gone through in Dickens’ time. (because

Walking Away from Happiness In the short story “Those Who Walk Away from Omelas,” the author, Ursula K. LeGuin portrays a utopia in which the good of the many outweighs the misery of the minority. The plot of the story contains a feeble minded ten year old child who is condemned to a broom closet of a stunningly happy and gracious city that is Omelas. According to LeGuin, “…the beauty of their city, the tenderness of their friendships, the health of their children…depend wholly on this child’s abominable misery” (LeGuin, 69).

Disturbing. Unsettling. Those are just a few of the thoughts that I had while reading, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” written by Ursula K. Le Guin. It still seems so far-fetched that such a perfect, utopian society can exist with such a deep dark secret hidden beneath the surface. The secret seems to be the only thing that allows for all the citizens to be able to live in paradise.

One of the themes of “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” is the price of selfishness. In her story Le Guin displays that if one’s happiness depends upon hurting another, one will never be at peace with themselves or truly happy. The narrator works hard to portray Omelas as a joyous community by describing the Festival of Summer with music, dancing, singing, smiles, excitement, and peace. The narrator explains that the price of this is joy built upon suffering through an innocent scapegoat. This scape goat is an innocent, negated, and abused child known by everyone as the sacrifice for their wrong doings so that they may continue to enjoy their joyous lives.

In “The Veldt”, by Ray Bradbury, the Hadley family (especially the children), are spoiled, which leads to extremely negative consequences. The children are especially spoiled because of the part of the house they love and obsess over most, the nursery. This is not an ordinary nursery, though. Whatever you think of while you’re in the nursery comes to life. Because of this, whenever these spoiled brats don’t get what they want, they do more that just throw a major tantrum.

Laughter is necessary to be healthy, especially under bad circumstances. Like Lincoln said, “With the fearful strain that is on me day and night, if I did not laugh I should die”(BrainyQuote). The lack of laughter on the ward is an indication of how the nurse had managed to destroy the inmates’ inner being. Their inner being has essentially died, and is no longer functioning like it

For every single careless action, there is the possibility for disaster. With every single word that someone mindlessly says out loud, there is the chance of regret. This world has gone through so much hardship such as countries being torn apart and cities full of crime because people don’t want to change. Nothing really stops the human race from making mistakes; of course, parents and elders give children warnings and advice as they grow older, “don’t drink and drive” or “always spend your money wisely”. Although, some people simply choose not to follow the warnings and advice.

Any hope the child may have had was bound to be destroyed as they carried out in the predetermined mundane lives, all joy and innocence totally eradicated. Blake’s poetry, especially the aforementioned, told by either the narrator or Blake himself, tell seemingly personal stories of children, whose basic right to explore the wonders of the world, was snatched from them. They have the reoccurring theme, a corrupt society’s negative impact in the life of an idyllic childhood, and without a doubt, this was to be the bane of these childrens’