In “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula Le Guin the author describes a fantasy world in which everything seems perfect and happiness is prosperous in the city of Omelas. The author expresses that Omelas is not a dream city. It is real and it does exist and people are abundantly happy there. The story explains that the only resolution to happiness such as a place like Omela is to turn your back on pain and unhappiness but being happy also has a dark side since it sometimes requires selfishness. In the story the author mentions a child that was not seen as perfect by the people at Omelas so they had the child locked up away from the society of Omelas and the condition for being happy in Omela is to keep the child there away from everyone and the outside world since he represents something that is unknown and not perfect to the people there. It seems as though the people in Omelas do not believe in change or do not accept the unknown because they feel it will shatter their happiness and destroy the city and the people there so why should they even try.
It seems there is no resolution in either “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula LE Guin or in “Hills Like White Elephant” by Ernest Hemingway. Both stories leave the reader in suspense and allow the reader to come up with somewhat of their own conclusion regarding the plot, outcome, and significance of the story although “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” seems to be more developed than “Hills Like White Elephants”. The difference between most popular stories and this one is that most stories the plot is more developed and the outcome and the conclusion are more direct and less confusing and in “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula Le Guin, the plot is mainly describing the city of Omelas and how happy people were there but it never clearly explains why most people are there and why some people leave and never come back.
Personally, I don’t know if I would walk away from Omela or just try to influence their way of thinking by speaking my mind. Even though the city of Omelas seems like a dream city that represents happiness to most people, it would not represent happiness to me because to me, happiness comes from having freewill and making a difference in life to be remembered and helping people in need no matter if the rest of society finds it acceptable or not. Omelas represented what most might think represents happiness but happiness comes from within, and what makes one person happy might not make another person happy. Happiness to me represents having experiences whether painful or not and the challenges we face in getting through obstacles in life and moving forward.
I believe the people in the story saw the child that was locked up and walked away from Omelas because they saw that the price of happiness was to be selfish and destroy anything that represented a challenge or imperfection. They might of felt that they, as well, were being deprived of freedom as they were being taught by the city what represented happiness and they felt disgusted with what was done to the child who was being punished simply for being different than what was considered to be normal and what was considered to be a representation of happiness.
Omelas has some significance in this world today because some people still prefer to turn their back on the truth and refuse to accept change or anything that is different than what is considered normal. Society has taught us what behaviors are acceptable and what is unacceptable. We have been conditioned to believe that the way to be happy is to be selfish. On the other hand Omelas talks about the way most people in the past might have lived without technology advances and without abundance of knowledge. Life was more simple back then so it seemed like people were happier but it was only an illusion and only a dream, because in reality, they were hiding the truth and trying to get rid of pain by putting their problems away, while the problem was not the imperfections, but the ignorance of the city’s way of thinking. Today people are more accepting of change and of what’s different yet ignorance still exists. Today’s version of happiness is different than what was considered happiness in the past and in places such as the Omelas but one thing that never ceases to change within humanity is the fear of the unknown.
It seems there is no resolution in either “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula LE Guin or in “Hills Like White Elephant” by Ernest Hemingway. Both stories leave the reader in suspense and allow the reader to come up with somewhat of their own conclusion regarding the plot, outcome, and significance of the story although “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” seems to be more developed than “Hills Like White Elephants”. The difference between most popular stories and this one is that most stories the plot is more developed and the outcome and the conclusion are more direct and less confusing and in “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula Le Guin, the plot is mainly describing the city of Omelas and how happy people were there but it never clearly explains why most people are there and why some people leave and never come back.
Personally, I don’t know if I would walk away from Omela or just try to influence their way of thinking by speaking my mind. Even though the city of Omelas seems like a dream city that represents happiness to most people, it would not represent happiness to me because to me, happiness comes from having freewill and making a difference in life to be remembered and helping people in need no matter if the rest of society finds it acceptable or not. Omelas represented what most might think represents happiness but happiness comes from within, and what makes one person happy might not make another person happy. Happiness to me represents having experiences whether painful or not and the challenges we face in getting through obstacles in life and moving forward.
I believe the people in the story saw the child that was locked up and walked away from Omelas because they saw that the price of happiness was to be selfish and destroy anything that represented a challenge or imperfection. They might of felt that they, as well, were being deprived of freedom as they were being taught by the city what represented happiness and they felt disgusted with what was done to the child who was being punished simply for being different than what was considered to be normal and what was considered to be a representation of happiness.
Omelas has some significance in this world today because some people still prefer to turn their back on the truth and refuse to accept change or anything that is different than what is considered normal. Society has taught us what behaviors are acceptable and what is unacceptable. We have been conditioned to believe that the way to be happy is to be selfish. On the other hand Omelas talks about the way most people in the past might have lived without technology advances and without abundance of knowledge. Life was more simple back then so it seemed like people were happier but it was only an illusion and only a dream, because in reality, they were hiding the truth and trying to get rid of pain by putting their problems away, while the problem was not the imperfections, but the ignorance of the city’s way of thinking. Today people are more accepting of change and of what’s different yet ignorance still exists. Today’s version of happiness is different than what was considered happiness in the past and in places such as the Omelas but one thing that never ceases to change within humanity is the fear of the unknown.
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