Le Guin responds to many of the issues in her then current society through her philosophical beliefs of Taoism and expresses these beliefs through her fiction. Le Guin searches for answers to the violent protests with Taoism, which she then portrays in select citizens of Omelas. In response to the conflict of the 1960s and 1970s, Le Guin’s interest in Taoism, also commonly referred to as Daoism, grew. Author Kristofer Schipper wrote that Taoism “lifts humans up to a level above particular gods and ancestors, to a heaven above heaven, to the one universal principle that allows the world to find unity in its endless diversity” (Schipper). The diversity mentioned is the same type of diversity that protesters fought for in the 1960s and 1970s; the …show more content…
Often, the answer she leads the characters and readers to is Taoism. In a society where most citizens blindly trust and agree what they are told, Le Guin illustrates the Taoist way of thinking through select citizens who do not blindly conform, but rather contemplate the child for themselves. Including questions like, “Do you believe? Do you accept the festival, the city, the joy?” (Le Guin), Le Guin incorporates the intrinsically inquisitive nature of Taoism, never accepting what one is told, always seeking answers. Another example of these philosophical ideas is that citizens walk away. When they leave and “give up all things, [they] have something left, that is happiness” (Zhang). By choosing to leave Omelas for a chance at authentic happiness, they are also following the Tao, illustrating the Taoistic belief that man has freedom to make his own distinctions between what is right and what is wrong. Individual freedom is a core belief in Taoism. Zhang looks to Tao The