ursula leguin the ones who walk away from omelas

Its condition is something one cannot bear to look at- malnourishment, fear-driven state of mind, hunched back, screaming nights, barely surviving meals, and sitting in its own excrement. However, the disclosure of a little boy’s entrapment in the basement exposes the reality and cause behind the seeming bubbling happiness that swells the city. The narrator digs deep into the best features that would appropriately describe Omelas in its ideal version. There is no guilt in the people of Omelas and doing drugs is not an addiction. Technological advancements depend on the will of its inhabitants and interestingly, the narrator encourages the reader to imagine the city in the best possible way where religion should be a yes but clergy a big no. The fairytale-like city is much harder to describe for the narrator who employs binaries along with ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ exhibiting the overwhelming state of mind. In an ideal setting with monarchy, slavery, and all other forms of administration absent, they are still complex like other humans from different parts of the world. Joy seems to infect the atmosphere but the narrator ventures to describe the people of Omelas as happy people whose smiles have become “archaic” and they are not “simple folk.” Nature blesses this city by surrounding it with the sea, mountains, vegetation, and a population comprising all age groups participating in the procession and events with full enthusiasm.

The prose begins with the announcement of the Festival of Summer by the narrator in the land of Omelas where celebrations are in full swing. The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas | Summary

Ursula leguin the ones who walk away from omelas