Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas Utopia Essay

Disturbing. Unsettling. Those are just a few of the thoughts that I had while reading, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” written by Ursula K. Le Guin. It still seems so far-fetched that such a perfect, utopian society can exist with such a deep dark secret hidden beneath the surface. The secret seems to be the only thing that allows for all the citizens to be able to live in paradise. Is there a right price for paradise?
Le Guin starts out by describing the Utopian society. She very graphically describes the beauty of the city, “In the streets between houses with red roofs and painted walls, between old moss-grown gardens and under avenues of trees, past great parks and public buildings,” (Le Guin, 136). Le Guin also cleverly introduces the happiness of society, “Children dodged in and out, their high calls rising like the swallows ' crossing flights, over the music and the singing,” (136). Throughout her descriptions of both the perfectness and happiness of the City of Omelas, she brings the audience in by making them feel as if they were a part of the society by allowing them to dream up their perfect utopian society. Her choice to tell the story this way is what made the Omelas’ secret so hard to bare. Despite this perfect society, they have a massive secret hidden beneath the surface. They have a young child locked in a basement in desolate conditions. “It is so thin there are no

I believe that Le Guin was trying to point out that just because something looks perfect doesn’t mean that it always is. You can’t judge a book by its cover. There could be skeletons in the closet, or in this case someone hidden in a basement. I believe that she was also trying to point out the fact that some communities are only able to survive at the expense of others. In this case, the City of Omelas was only able to survive and thrive to be a Utopian society because the child was locked in the basement. Is a child locked in the basement, the right price to pay for