Quest for Wisdom: An Analysis of 'The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas'

This essay delves into Ursula K. Le Guin's 'The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas,' analyzing its multifaceted themes. It examines the contrasting elements of joy and sorrow within the utopian city, highlighting the perpetual cycle of human experiences. The essay explores the societal implications of the story, focusing on the suffering of a child as the foundation of Omelas' prosperity and the citizens' reactions. It also explores the absence of traditional societal structures like kings and military, and the contrast between the fictional utopian world and the realities of suffering and misery. The analysis further discusses the author's criticism of societal indifference and the importance of helping those in need, offering a critique of modern society's shortcomings and the need for ethical responsibility. The essay concludes by emphasizing the story's significance as a reflection of societal issues and a call for greater awareness and compassion.

Running head: QUEST FOR WISDOM
Quest for Wisdom
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1QUEST FOR WISDOM
Introduction
The purpose of the following essay is to analyze the different themes of the philosophical
fiction work The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas by the author Ursula K. Le Guin in the
year 1973 (Le Guin, 1973). The descriptions provided in the fictional work are vivid and vague
at the same time. Different types of themes have been put forth in this work so the social
considerations could be understood properly. The themes of death, suffering, tragedy, diseases,
love, spirituality and other themes have been explained vividly through the work of Le Guin. The
description of these themes gained the attraction of most readers during those times.
Thesis statement: The happiness and misery of the city of Omelas signify the perpetual cycle of
sorrow and joy among human beings.
Analysis of the work
According to author of the work, the utopian city of Omelas has been focused and all the
events have evolved regarding a child who went missing. The mention of the summer festival
can be found in the book that signifies the fun and merriment within the society among the
people. On the contrary, the suffering has reflected through the misery of the child which is the
main determinant of the prosperity of the city of Omelas (Menadue, 2018). There is a mention of
the chronology in the book has been found when it is said that the beginning of the story is
through the beginning of the summer festival. Here beginning of the summer festival means joy
and clamor after the dry and rough winter season that results in the various diseases. The
excessive happiness that has been portrayed in the fictional work does not suit the real world i.e.
full of diseases, suffering and misery. This extent of happiness proves the fact that the city of

2QUEST FOR WISDOM
Omelas is completely a fictional and utopian one and there is no connection with the real life (Le
Guin, 1973).
Throughout the story, it has been depicted that Omelas is a city that has no kings, slaves,
military power, corruption or priests. This signifies the actual picture that the world should have
been. It is one of peace, prosperity and joy. Unfortunately, the socio-economic-political set up
the present society is not at all like that. So, this contrast is very eye catching. The citizens of this
community are found to be blissful and they enjoy all kinds of joy. On the contrary, the current
set up of the society will not allow such beautiful things for the people. It has been said by most
philosophers and spiritual people that life is a mixture of joy and sorrow, success and failure and
bliss and misery (Rea, 2014). There is no wonder that people will suffer and their lives will come
to an end. People should encounter unfortunate incidents and this will be counted as learning
lessons in their lives. The author of the work has admitted that she is not able to express all the
particular things in proper detail (Keller Hirsch, 2016).
This work of fiction is completely something made through her fantasy. The forever fairy
tale theme is the basic element of this fiction because readers will love to engage in these happy
and blissful stories since they want to stay away from painful world full of sufferings that they
live in. However, the author has definitely made a very strong argument against the corrupted
and evil society that all the human beings live at present (Rea, 2014). The suffering of the poor
child has been depicted through the work. The people in the city of Omelas do not think about
the suffering that the child goes through. This is completely the perception of the fact that people
ignore the misfortunes and sufferings of all the people in the world. There are many societies that
do not put emphasis on the suffering of others. This story The Ones Who Walk Away From
Omelas represents these people (Le Guin, 1973). The author Le Guin is of the opinion that

3QUEST FOR WISDOM
educated and civilized people should not go away from these sufferers. Rather they must help all
the people so they can work together and come to aid when one is suffering.
This level of criticism is very rare in the modern literature and philosophy when an
author has made subtle plans to put forth the real world through creating a utopian world
(Güranç, 2019). It is an expected thing that people in the society would always be helpful and
understand the significance of the social relationships along with treating their children. Children
are the futures of the society so they should be cared for all the responsible citizens. The case
presented in the story The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas should be avoided at any cost.
Thus, this story is a very stark criticism of the issues that are quite relevant in the society and
they should be treated very strictly in the future.
Conclusion
On a concluding note, it must be said that the story by Le Guin is one of the finest stories
of its kind. The reality of the present society has been reflected here along with the carelessness
and ignorance of most people. The eternal bliss and happiness of the common people in this
story is the depiction of people who do not find any responsibility in the society. These people
ignore their responsibilities and negative factors loom large over the entire society.

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References and Bibliography
CHANG, T. C. H. (2018). (Re)-directing literature to ethical justice: Happiness in Ursula K.
LeGuin’s “The ones who walk away from Omelas”.
Güranç, M. (2019). An Analysis of the Utopia Question in Ursula Le Guin’s “The Ones Who
Walk Away from Omelas”. Journal of English Language and Literature Club, 1(2), 36-
39.
Keller Hirsch, A. (2016). Walking off the Edge of the World: Sacrifice, Chance, and Dazzling
Dissolution in the Book of Job and Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away
from Omelas”. Humanities (2076-0787), 5(3).
Le Guin, U. (1973). The ones who walk away from Omelas. New Dimensions, 3.
Menadue, C. B. (2018). Farewell Ursula Le Guin–the One who walked away from Omelas. The
Conversation, 25.
Rea, M. (2014). Evil and the Hiddenness of God. Cengage Learning.