The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
Ratings144
Average rating4.3
The fact that this short story does more in 30 pages or so than an average book would take in about 10 times as many pages is not to be ignored.
Went into this having no idea where it would go. In the beginning, it seemed to be going in the direction of a social commentary on a blissful utopia, UNTIL the question posed towards the end.
You would like to think you'd be the one person that cannot accept the suffering of 1 citizen in exchange for the happiness of everyone else. But in reality, isn't that exactly what we do? Go through life ignoring the suffering of those select few that don't affect our daily lives. And in return, are we really rewarded with sincere happiness of Omelas? This is a downward spiral I don't think we're prepared to face.
This story dives into the tough decisions surrounding a perfect city that depends on the suffering of one poor child. However, can a whole city's joy and success be okay if it means a single child has to suffer that much?
Le Guin made the story act like a mirror and encourage others to think about what is right and what is wrong.
Ursula K Le Guin rolls “least interesting thought experiment of all time”, asked to walk away from Omelas
“The trouble is that we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of considering happiness as something rather stupid. Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting. This is the treason of the artist: a refusal to admit the banality of evil and the terrible boredom of pain.”
Inredible short story that doesn't lose any of its impact even when knowing its rough content in advance.
The premise of this short story is simple: Omelas, a radiant city of happiness, has built its riches upon the suffering of a single child. Every citizen knows of the child and many visit it to witness its suffering.There are basically three options according to Le Guin: - Walk away and live your life, knowing your happiness depends on the misery of an innocent child.- Walk away from Omelas; leave, never to come back.- Rescue the child - but that doesn't happen.According to Le Guin's afterword those are the only options because those are the rules:»You can only play a game – chess, soccer, parable – if you follow the rules.«And that's where I say she's wrong: We abide by the “rules” because we want to. We allow the rules to restrict what we do. We choose to follow the rules - but we don't have to!In the face of developing countries being ravaged by COVID-19 like we'd never tolerate it here, we can tell Bill Gates that his stance on not waiving intellectual property rights for vaccines is inhumane.We can tell BioNTech whose research we've supported with 375 million Euros (ca. 445 million US-Dollars) from German taxpayers alone that selling its vaccine at high price tags while also vetoing patent waiving is greedy, irresponsible and, again, inhumane.We do not have to play by the rules if that means ruining the game for generations to come. We do not have to accept the suffering of some in order to allow others to thrive at the formers' expense.Yes, we do tend to walk away from Omelas but there are other options than ignorance or turning a blind eye. We can rescue the child of Omelas and yet live good lives. We just need to change the rules.Two out of five stars.Blog Facebook Twitter Instagram
Does the needs of the many outweigh the suffering of an individual? Hard question disguised in a short story wrapped in a beautiful language. Thought provoking on which I mis admit I can't answer. I wish I could say I would be walking from Omelas but I'm unsure I would and it's haunting.
Short stories get a bad rap for not being ‘enough', but Ursula K. Le Guin proves how powerful they can be in this one. Beautifully and hauntingly written, it will follow you long after you've read it and will give you so much to think on in respect to the story that you'd truly think you had read a novel. In a strange way I see a parallel with one of my favourite anime series Kino's Journey, which also explores uncomfortable truths about people, societies and morality. Truly an artful masterpiece.
An excellent short story about a Utopian City. Also an excellent thought experiment for readers about an extremely radical version of utilitarianism.
Como todo buen libro de science-fiction, Le Guin te presenta un mundo maravilloso que guarda horribles secretos que te hacen cuestionar tus valoraciones y tu vision en la vida.
Primer escrito de Le Guin que leo y, definitivente sera el primero de muchos.