The Wrong Choice That Omelas Is Making

What would society be like if several suffered for the benefit of many? Well society would be terrible. Utopias are thought of as the perfect place, the image of happiness. Yet, Utopias are not always perfect, sadness can be found somewhere. An example of this hidden sadness can be found in Ursula Le Guin’s short story “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”. In this short story the town of Omelas is known to be perfect, but the town’s perfect nature comes from the suffering of a single child. The beliefs that the people of Omelas have that believe this is okay are very wrong. The idea that this torturing is okay is wrong, selfish, and cannot be justified. No matter what the case, this cruelty cannot be justified.

The idea that the world and town is a perfect town thanks to the suffering of this child is terrible. Even lines within the story tell that what is going on is terrible, such as “… and the kindly weathers of their skies depend wholly on this child’s abominable misery.” This is an entire false belief that states that everything within the town is okay because the child is suffering. Omelas’ entire population depends on this child; they believe that good crops and good luck come to them because of the child they are torturing. That belief is not correct, and that responsibility for the child is too much. The one child living in terrible conditions will not make the lives of those living good and happy lives any better.

Some within Omelas do not agree with this misery equals happiness belief, many in fact question it. These people do not believe that this suffering that is happening benefits them in any way. After the introduction in “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” this line really stands out; “Do you believe? Do you accept the festival, the city, the joy? No?” That single line hints that behind the joyful appearance of Omelas there is misery. It hints that not everybody will be okay and happy living this terrible lifestyle. Those who do question the cruelty taking place behind the scenes are right to question, they are right to think that the fact their happiness comes from this child being unhappy is wrong. The morals and ideas behind this suffering are thoroughly sad.

The main theme from “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” is this; people ore okay with being happy knowing that another is unhappy, that people are living their lives perfectly even with knowing what terrible things are going on, and that the people who do realize how terrible this cruelty is have to actually leave their beloved city. These happenings are not okay, this book telling of sacrifice is not right. The citizens of Omelas happiness comes from the sadness of the child, and most of those citizens are morally okay with it. That in itself is disappointing and sad. Nobody should have their life and choices taken from them like the people in this story do to the child.

In conclusion, Omelas is a city where life is being lived wrong. Life is being lived in a way where the consciences of those who live there are constantly heavy do to the fact they are torturing a child. This “happy” world that is supposedly there is not really happy. The torturing is behind the scenes, where nobody can see. The wrong decisions, the wrong lifestyle, it is all because of the wrong choice to torture an innocent child. Every person deserves their chance at happiness, so in taking that chance away a life is being ruined. Ruining a life should never be done for a selfish reason like this.