Throughout history, humans have always performed sacrifices for either the good of themselves or the good others, maybe both in some situations. In ancient times when Pharaohs ruled, they would offer sacrifices to the gods in exchange for rain. In south America, Indian Tribe leaders would kill wild animals or members of the tribe to offer to their god in exchange for protection. Even though the time periods are different, some people must suffer in order for society to thrive. In today’s society, the poor suffer and sacrifice so that the wealthy can gain and prosper. After reading Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, I realized that a Utopian society can exist, however only with sacrifice. It does not have to be major sacrifices like killing each other, it can just be small compromises such as giving up the opportunity of getting a chocolate fountain.
In The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, the author describes Omelas as a beautiful place where everybody is happy and content with life. She states “The rigging of the boats in harbor sparkled with flags. In the streets between houses with red roofs and painted walls, between old moss-grown gardens and under avenues of trees, past great parks and public buildings, processions moved. Some were decorous: old people in long stiff robes of mauve and gray, grave master workmen, quiet, merry women carrying their babies and chatting as they walked. In other streets, the music beat faster, a shimmering of gong and tambourine, and the people went dancing, the procession was a dance. Children dodged in and out, their high calls rising like the swallows' crossing flights, over the music and the singing. All the processions wound towards the north side of the city, where on the great water-meadow called the Green' Fields boys and girls, naked in the bright air, with mud-stained feet and ankles and long, lithe arms, exercised their restive horses before the race. The horses wore no gear at all but a halter without bit”(pg 1). It honestly sounded like every lunatic’s’ dreamland. People went around naked without a care in the world. That aside, Omelas seemed like a pretty good place to live in. Everything seemed so perfect.
The citizens were not aliens, zombies, or supernatural beings. They were normal people like us. In the story, the author stated that “ They were not simple folk, you see, though they were happy. But we do not say the words of cheer much anymore. All smiles have become archaic. Given a description such as this one tends to make certain assumptions. Given a description such as this one tends to look next for the King, mounted on a splendid stallion and surrounded by his noble knights, or perhaps in a golden litter borne by great-muscled slaves. But there was no king. They did not use swords or keep slaves. They were not barbarians. I do not know the rules and laws of their society, but I suspect that they were singularly few. As they did without monarchy and slavery, so they also got on without the stock exchange, the advertisement, the secret police, and the bomb. Yet I repeat that these were not simple folk, not dulcet shepherds, noble savages, bland Utopians. They were not less complex than us”( pg 1). These people seemed perfect. Their lives were perfect. They had no problems with wars, poverty, and social discrimination, well that’s what they wanted people to believe. In fact, they were not perfect. Beneath their mask of perfection and happiness was a deep dark secret.
While everyone enjoyed life, one boy did not. He was responsible for the happiness of the citizens of Omelas. The author states “. The room is about three paces long and two wide: a mere broom closet or disused tool room. In the room, a child is sitting. It could be a boy or a girl. It looks about six but actually is nearly ten. It is feeble-minded. Perhaps it was born defective or perhaps it has become imbecile through fear, malnutrition, and neglect. It picks its nose and occasionally fumbles vaguely with its toes or genitals, as it sits hunched in the corner farthest from the bucket and the two mops. It is afraid of the mops. It finds them horrible. It shuts its eyes, but it knows the mops are still standing there, and the door is locked, and nobody will come. The door is always locked, and nobody ever comes, except that sometimes-the child has no understanding of time or interval – sometimes the door rattles terribly and opens, and a person, or several people, are there. One of them may come and kick the child to make it stand up. The others never come close, but peer in at it with frightened, disgusted eyes. The food bowl and the water jug are hastily filled, the door is locked, the eyes disappear. The people at the door never say anything, but the child, who has not always lived in the tool room, and can remember sunlight and its mother's voice, sometimes speaks. "I will be good," it says. "Please let me out. I will be good!" They never answer. The child used to scream for help at night and cry a good deal, but now it only makes a kind of whining, "eh-haa, eh-haa," and it speaks less and less often. It is so thin there are no calves to its legs; its belly protrudes; it lives on a half-bowl of cornmeal and grease a day. It is naked. Its buttocks and thighs are a mass of festered sores, as it sits in its own excrement continually” (pg 3). Because of everyone’s happiness, this child’s life is sacrificed. He/she is verbally and physically abused. The child is forced to be locked away and hidden from society. Even though he is hidden, the people of Omelas knows of the child’s existence but choose to ignore it. They ignore the child’s pain so that they can continue to live happily. Would you be able to do that? I would not be able to be okay or ignore this because the quilt would eat me live knowing that the reason why I’m happy is because of someone else's suffering.
The people of Omelas are basically Utilitarians. Utilitarians believes in Utilitarianism which is a system of ethics where one is sacrificed for the many. The people of Omelas allowed the child to suffer since it’s beneficial for the community as a whole. Although they knew it was morally wrong, they chose to ignore it.
Bhagwandin A
Word Count: 1103
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