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They feel disgust, which they had thought themselves superior to. No matter how well the matter has been explained to them, these young spectators are always shocked and sickened at the sight. As the story puts it, “This is usually explained to children when they are between eight and twelve, whenever they seem capable of understanding and most of those who come to see the child are young people, though often enough an adult comes, or comes back, to see the child. But unfortunately, they could not do anything because if the child will be freed, the happiness and prosperity of Omelas will be destroyed.
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However, it was clearly illustrated in the story that there are few, the youngsters in particular who cares about the situation of the child. Like the author says, “Happiness is based on a just discrimination of what is necessary, what is neither necessary nor destructive, and what is destructive.” Nobody attempted to make a stand for the child’s freedom. It is carefully explained to every citizen of the city that freeing the child will destroy all “the prosperity and beauty and delight of Omelas.” So, while they may come to view the child, no one intervenes. 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.” Some of them have come to see it, others are content merely to know it is there. “They all know it is there, all the people of Omelas. Everyone in the almost –perfect city of Omelas knows about the child, in fact they are complicit in its inhumane treatment. The child is imprisoned in a dirty, dark cellar room furnished with a bucket and two mops, kept from human contact and sunlight. The society curtailed the child’s freedom and life in exchange of their happiness. A child was being locked up by the people of Omelas to hide her deformity and imperfection. Like every fairy tale, the Omelas has its hidden flaw too. The happiness and festivity of Omelas has its hidden flaw.
THE ONES WHO WALK AWAY FROM OMELAS FULL
The story also depicts how the people of Omelas are fortunate and full of bliss by enjoying a Utopian existence, with so many pleasures around them such as sex and drugs music–if not rock-and-roll, magnificent public buildings, ideal weather and above all, an existence without “monarchy and slavery.” The author started the story by describing how happy and festive the society of Omelas is, “bright-towered by the sea” as the author sees it. But the story is also enlightenment that nobody has the right to curtail one’s life and liberty, after all we are all creations of our Great Creator. It portrays how people tend to become selfish and egocentric. It is about sacrificing one’s life to obtain happiness for the society. It is a story about a Utopian society called Omelas wherein happiness of the entire society is made possible by the sacrifice of one child for the sake of the group. Le Guin is a tale that depicts a part of our reality. “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula K.