All previous prosperity and happiness that was there would be eradicated. For their city to remain so great, to remain so peaceable, and to remain so joyous and prosperous, they must keep this child locked away and each and every citizen must be aware of the child’s existence for the very moment that one tries to remove the child from this situation, the lives of thousands that live in the city of Omelas would be utterly destroyed. And the reasoning behind their awareness of this situation is in actuality the perfection of Omelas. Whether they understand it or not, whether they see it or are just okay with knowing it is there, they are aware of it in some way, shape, or form. They must all be aware of this child’s presence. Not even a kind word is allowed to be spoken to this child.Įvery single person knows of this child that lives in the darkness beneath the glorious city of Omelas, and each child when they are old enough to understand has the situation explained to them. It’s isolated constantly with the only exception being that occasionally a group of people will come down to gaze upon this horrid sight or to get its daily feeding. It is mentioned that the child might have been born with a defect or developed it at a later date because of the foul treatment, but its mind is no longer good. In a basement somewhere within the city there is a child kept in the foulest conditions imaginable. So she gives you the condition which must be met to keep this city so peaceable and joyous all the time. So after being given this description of a seemingly superior city, and then given the option to change its description to suit your fancy, she moves on with the description of the festival procession and the beginnings of the Festival of Summer.Īt this point, such a perfect city with its inhabitants all happy seems to be too perfect. Ursula purposely wrote in a section that described how this city was so undeniably perfect in its image that she couldn’t accurately describe it so she tells the reader to imagine it however they would see the perfect, happy city. There is no clergy, war, weapons, king, or other form of leadership in the city. This work was written in 1973 and won an award in 1974.Ī basic description of the city in The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas can’t ignore the streets filled with people during a day of celebration, the horses being prepared for a race, and the undeniable happiness that overcome the people within Omelas. Afterwards she had three children and worked on her writing in private. On a trip to France she met Charles Le Guin whom was a professor of French history, and she married him in Paris in 1953. She studied at Colombia University for her graduate work in French and Italian literature. She was the daughter of a folklorist and a renowned anthropologist. This story was written by a woman named Ursula Kroeber Le Guin whom was born on October 21st 1929 in Berkeley, California. It’s a popular work so any decent library is liable to have at least one copy of this short story if you wish to read it for yourself. The work The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas can be located here in a pdf format or you can usually find this in many different anthologies at your local library. I figured I would start this blog out with a classic.
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