The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, Essay Example

Ursula Le Guin’sThe Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas present a rather ethical indication of how social advancement has its pros and cons, its advantages and its disadvantages. People have become accustomed to the idea of what a good life is. The truth is, most of the time, such a thought becomes a dream provoked by the desire to live a much more relaxing situation. Practically, it could be understood that at present, when the word ‘good life’ comes into mind, the picture of a highly developed urban city comes into position. People have become accustomed to the idea that when it comes to living a good life, all the sources of relaxation and luxury of the material things that life could offer would be present. Nevertheless, it should be remembered that nothing comes in for free; everything has its own price.

In the community of Omelas, such price is determined by the presence of one infant who suffers for everything else. This is not a secret, everybody knows about it and somehow, those who wish to continue their lives further in Omelas and enjoy the bounty it provides, find a way to settle and accept the situation of the child. However, those who cannot take the idea of having a young and innocent infant suffer for their happiness, leave the community and transfer elsewhere, where life is not as rewarding nor is it as enjoyable as it is in Omelas.

In the present day picture, one community that could be likened to Omelas is China. True, not everyone believes that this country is a good place to live in. Nevertheless, its status of progress has lead its own people to believe that they are better off today that they were in the past. Life in China is separated between the rich and the poor sectors. The poor sectors are left aside while the rich ones progressed further. Notably, in this scenario, it could be analyzed that as one advances, the others stays in its position or at some point even go towards the lowest and most diminishing point of poverty. This is proven by the high rates of child labor and over worked employees in the country. Used as the stepping stone towards success, the community, both the middle class and the upper class knows of such fact. Nevertheless, only a few really condemns the situation. The truth is, some have become accustomed to it that seeing a young child or a poor person living in the streets becomes a rather common picture to look at. In a way, like the story of Omelas, majority of the Chinese society’s conscience has already been brought into colder state that they have become accustomed to living good life while knowing that there are lives and resources of their nation being evidently sacrificed.

One compelling line in the story of Le Guin is when she said “Omelas sounds in my words like a city in a fairy tale, long ago and far away, once upon a time. Perhaps, it would be best if you imagined it as your own fancy bids, assuming it will rise to the occasion, for certainly I cannot suit you all” (2). Through this line, she presents the reality that when it comes to determining what a good life is, and what a utopia society is about, the actual picture of such situation depends on the thinking of each individual as each person has his own idea of such thought.

In the same manner, as different as people are when it comes to determining what is a good life and what is not, they also develop different ideals when it comes to understanding how such success and progress in the community should be attained. Noticeably, many individuals are challenged as to how they see all the sacrifices made for the sake of progress. People as well as natural resources are being set aside; their values go unnoticed especially if the sacrifice is made for progress. The question of whether or not this is ethical becomes deemed off in the background and somehow becomes a constant decay in the community. This is how progress becomes a source of horror especially for those who believe in ethical options of progress.

Running through the different ideas about a dystopian society, most fiction novels delve on the fact that with every reward comes a price. It is as if people cannot expect to get anything if they are not willing to give anything. In the same picture, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World (1932) presents a distinct indication on where progress has taken the society to. Practically, in this story, Huxley did not fail to interpret the fact that as human individuals became more dependent to technology, they became less interested in human relationships. They became less compelled to form connections and retain it. While there is not life sacrificed in the story as there was in the community of Omelas, morals and the nature of humans to love and be concerned with others is something that has been put into a diminishing point. This is the reason why this reading material has been banned for quite some time as critics believed that these reading gives too much of a negative picture that makes it harder for the people then to see a better process of living; something that might keep them from pushing through with the option of development.

Nevertheless, if there is anything more horrific about dystopian fiction stories is the idea that at some point, they do present the realities happening in the society today. The thoughts of these writers coming true and become the real picture of the human society is something that is more alarming than questionable; a wakeup call that perhaps, while humans still have the time to change, they ought to do so, as did the people of Omelas who walked away from something they cannot accept to be normal, ethical nor moral.

References

Spivack, Charlotte. (1984).  Ursula K. Le Guin. Boston: Twayne Publishers. page 159.

Bloom, Harold, ed. (1986). Ursula K. Le Guin (1st ed.). New York, NY: Chelsea House.

Huxley, A. (1932). The Brave New World.

Heje, Johan (2002). “Aldous Huxley”. In Harris-Fain, Darren. British Fantasy and Science-Fiction Writers, 1918–1960. Detroit: Gale Group. p. 100.