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The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas Irony

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The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin conveys that there is no happiness without suffering through situational irony. In the first paragraph of the short story, during the Festival of Summer, the “Children dodged in and out, their high calls rising like the swallows' crossing flights over the music and the singing . . . In the silence of the broad green meadows one could hear . . . a cheerful faint sweetness of the air that from time to time trembled and gathered together and broke out into the great joyous clanging of the bells.” (Le Guin 1). In this imagined city, everything is seemingly perfect. The imagery in the first paragraph is of the bird’s eye view of the city, capturing many aspects of the society which are all happy scenes. …show more content…

The narrator, later on says, “Omelas sounds in my words like a city in a fairy tale, long ago and far away, once upon a time” (Le Guin 3). The mood and narrator’s words make it seem like the City of Omelas is a utopia. However, a 10-year-old is tortured and locked away in a basement, crying (Le Guin 4). This scene proves the short story is situational irony because based on the extensive descriptions of the city’s happiness it would be a utopia, but it is not. Situational irony is a contrast between what is expected and what occurs. The city of Omelas is filled with happiness, yet a child is tortured in the city’s basement. The cries from the Festival of Summer are joyous, but not far away the cries of a miserable child can be heard. Furthermore, “If the child were brought up into the sunlight out of that vile place . .

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