Symbolism In The Ones That Walk Away From Omelas

Have you ever had a guilty feeling in the back of your mind? How do you deal with that feeling of guilt? That is the message Ursula Le Guin conveys in her story “The Ones That Walk Away From Omelas”. The symbolism she uses such as the child in the basement, the citizens of Omelas, and those that walk away from Omelas. suggests guilt effects the mind.
The deep-seated guilt in the mind in this story is represented by the child in the basement of this “utopia”. The people of Omelas have it stashed away in what seems to be a broom closet with a damp dirt floor. The story doesn’t elaborate on how long the guilt has been there, but it has been down there isolated and neglected for so long it wouldn’t be able to have or even understand happiness. This is

The citizens think their happiness depends on it. As the narrator points out, “They all know it has to be there. …they all understand that their happiness, the beauty of their city, the tenderness of their friendships, the health of their children, the wisdom of their scholars, the skill of their makers, even the abundance of their harvest and the kindly weathers of their skies, depend wholly on this child’s abominable misery” (Le Guin 3). In a way, it just might. They are afraid to let the child out. If the child gets out into the town, all the citizens will not be able to look away from the festered neglected guilty feeling. They would all see what it has become and that would be a horrible awakening. This could have all started with something small and have been resolved. But now, by burying it down deep and keeping it neglected, only helps the feeling of guilt to grow stronger. The citizens in the story are paralyzed by the guilt packed away deep down and don’t realize this, when in fact the longer they drag this on the worse the situation will