The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas: A Story (A Wind's Twelve Quarters Story) Kindle Edition

A timeless, powerful story and must read that will have you questioning your perceptions of comfort, values, and compassion. Extremely short but one that will stick with you for life.

This short story was my first time reading Ursula LeGuin. The story begins with an eloquent depiction of this ideal little town preparing for a festival. Everything seems perfect, yet there is mention of imperfections, but they are depicted as minor and not having serious negative consequence.The juxtaposition of this pristine society created by LeGuin to its deep, dark, hidden secret is a clear parallel to humanity's natural tendency to establish a sense of superiority at the expense of another person or group. LeGuin had no spefici injustice for her story, which is part of its beauty. This story can be applied to a wide ovarievariety of situations with which we are all familiar. With a lot of the tensions going on right now relating to race/gender/sexuality/politics/nationality, this short story felt particularly poignant.

I like this story. On the face of it, it is written well like all of Le Guin's work, and the moral of the story is obvious.Except it isn't. The whole thing is kind of cryptic, and there are a lot of elements that are left so open as to leave you puzzling. It feels like a parable meant to ask questions, not answer them. In the descriptions of the Omelas society it is both complimentary and critical in saying the the Omelasians are happy and successful and wise, and yet somehow undesirable. We are supposed to conclude that their existence is superficial, sinful, and vapid but it isn't really said. It isn't societal structure that gives life meaning anyway - its personal outlook. What's not to like about Omelas? This is utopia after all, and to complain about what is missing is to look a gift horse in the mouth. One could complain that being wealthy won't make your life meaningful, but being poor won't do that either.Then there is the issue presented, which is injustice. The injustice in this case is parallel with the Christian idea, where one suffers so others do not. Any criticism placed here would also be a criticism of Christianity's basic concept. We are supposed to both wonder at the amazing feat of being able to limit injustice to just one person, (instead of thousands or even millions in a real world society) and yet be unsatisfied that it isn't zero people. Well, wouldn't zero injustice be just peachy. Good luck with that.Then there are those who 'walk away', but it isn't clear where they go or why. If they leave because of their conscience or something related to the one-person injustice, we cannot assume that wherever they are going there even exists a place in which there is zero injustice. That would be even sillier than the utopia they are leaving. Also, no other solution is even considered. Is the one-person suffering transferable? Can one volunteer? The difference between a victim and a hero is a choice. I would like to believe that I am the heroic type if the opportunity presented itself. If I was considering leaving the society I might choose instead to take the sufferer's place (if it that is allowed). What if people could just take their turn? That would be more equal.Which brings us back to the real world. What are we supposed to take away from this? We should be offended and feel guilty about every injustice, even if it is one person. We should try to see the difference between 'this is how it is, get over it' and what could be. We still have to accept that the real world cannot be perfect even when we do our best to make it perfect and even when we do battle every injustice. We should see that scapegoating is a common and general sin that all societies make, and they don't have to make it. Even so, I would happily move to utopian Omelas any day, compared to the real world. I feel that this parable brings up questions it should have answered, and pretends to be deeper than it is. It is a great conversation starter, but I felt like I was less enlightened after reading it than before. The answers I chose to take away from it do not seem like what the ones the author wanted me to.

Do we close our eyes to the suffering of others if their suffering brings us “life”. Now I’m going to have to look at my life view and the current world happenings. Do I vocalize my outrage or do I go along to get along?

If you’ve seen the Strange New Worlds episode “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach” you will see it’s a complete rip off of this story and while it’s a good episode they owe Le Guin a writing credit. The short story itself is a wonderfully sharp philosophical question that has been posed by others, who Le Guin credits in her afterward. A good read that should replace The Lottery in English classes.

I used to be the biggest reader i knew, when i was a kid. but when i started working in a book store and going to high school, i somehow lost my will to sit down with a story. this however, has given me just the spark to want to begin again. So fantastic. So profound. i finished it last night in less than 20 minutes and then reread it twice. i haven’t stopped thinking about it since. i think that those who read it and put it down must be those who let the child suffer. but those who cannot get omegas out of their heads? that’s the ones who walked away. the end note made me wonder if we are still in omelas. i think we are on the outskirts of omelas. always reaching for more always wishing for the better times that we remember from before walking away. but the society that we live in is a product of someone having the morality to save that child. and so the true omelas has been destroyed, until another child can take its place.

I read this mostly Because I saw it recommended to me on an Instagram reels. I think it puts a pretty profound question . Maybe this type of literature is far too complex for me .Overall thou it asks a very deep questions I wasn’t as blown away as I thought I would be.