The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas

Ursula Le Guin’s dystopian short story, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” uses a unique narrator to draw attention to social issues that have not been addressed in our own society. Jerre Collins’ article “Leaving Omelas: Questions of Faith and Understanding” explores how Le Guin’s work influences its reader’s perception of social justice, but heavily focuses on how these issues are countered by the very Western conscious that Le Guin wishes to change. Then, in Kenneth Roemer’s article, “The Talking Porcupine Liberates Utopia: Le Guin’s ‘Omelas’ as Pretext to the Dance,” he explores how the narrator includes the reader in the world building experience and how this creates a sense of responsibility in that reader. The evidence produced in

People that disagree with the treatment of the child “walk straight out of the city of Omelas, through the beautiful gates …they walk ahead into the darkness, and they do not come back” (Le Guin 862). The abandonment of the town of the Omelas is the main issue that Collins takes with the article. Collins argues that those of Western mind will see this similarly to how “Jesus suffers and dies, only to rise again to a transformed glorious life in the presence of the Father” (532). Collins sees this as a negative aspect because it seemingly “indirectly buttresses the very scapegoat theodicy she hopes to undermine” (532). Collins’ idea that those who leave Omelas take on religious significance is supported by the text as they are going to “a place even less imaginable to most of us than the city of happiness” (Le Guin 862). A place unimaginable by most people could easily mean the afterlife, as no human has ever given a firsthand account of it. The religious allusions continue as the narrator states “they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas” (Le Guin 862). The people who leave Omelas do so with great conviction and faith, never doubting their new future away from the only town they have ever known. This could be explained through the citizens’ belief in a higher power who will guide them on their journey. Collins negatively views the idea that those who leave are cleansed of their past sins, believing that this prevents them from learning anything from the abuse that was inflicted upon the child. But, what if these religious allusions are purposeful? By relating to the ideas of Western Christianity Le Guin can more successfully reach the audience she most badly wants to address. Le Guin could be giving those who have been oppressors in the past the chance to walk away from their harmful practices and start anew. The ending presents a message of hope, in which anyone,