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How Does Leguin Create A Dehumanized Society

651 Words3 Pages

A dystopia is the opposite of a utopia; it illustrates a world of suffering and distress. Ursula K. LeGuin creates a world of people completely dehumanized by a small child. The child does not follow the “standards” of this society, therefore, the child is locked up and shown to every person, threatening them not to end up like the child. The citizens of Omelas are portrayed as joyous people, but they are all dehumanized and live in a world without freedom. "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" depicts a dehumanized world in which people appear to be happy, but the truth presents itself, as these people are living in a tyrannical and controlled world. The people of Omelas do not live in freedom. LeGuin shows how Omelas and the people living …show more content…

Another way the reality of the society is shown is when LeGuin states, “They leave Omelas, they walk ahead into the darkness, and they do not come back.” These people are now aware that the society they live in is abnormal. They choose to leave and take on a different world—a world unknown. This demonstrates that some Omelas residents have realized that the world they live in is completely dehumanized and restricted. The story is full of many examples of how the society is not what it appears to be, displaying how the people in Omelas are not happy but rather afflicted by this matter. The story "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" exemplifies many aspects of a dystopia by dehumanizing the population and controlling them in despicable ways. Omelas and its people are portrayed differently than they are in reality, as the child is constantly used as a prop to threaten the people and keep them aware of the fact that they are not free. The theme of dehumanization plays an important part in the story, as the people of the society are being dehumanized by the acts of what seems to be the government. LeGuin's dehumanization message in the narrative is relevant to the dehumanization that is taking place in our world

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