What if I told you that you could live a carefree life in a place full of happiness, and without worries but at the expense of a child living in misery in exchange. Would you take this offer and live your life to the fullest or would you walk away from it all? In the short story “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula Le Guin, this is the scenario that many of the citizens of the city of Omelas face from an adolescent age. Le Guin describes a mystical city, self described as a utopia, during the festival of summer where everyone is gathered together to celebrate. The people of Omelas are not simple. They are “mature, intelligent, passionate adults whose lives are not wretched” and despite all of this, underneath the city locked away in a dark and filthy basement lives a child who has only known this way of life and is there for the sake of…show more content… Lurking underneath in the basement of a private house in Omelas, an innocent child is being held captive against his own will and isolated from the rest of the people of Omelas. He is kept in a dark and filthy utility mop room. The child, who’s identity is unknown, is malnourished because it is only fed half a bowl of cornmeal mush a day and at the age of ten years old looks to be around six years old. In addition to the obvious mistreatment that the child already endures, some of the citizens of the city come by to see this child. The narrator makes it seem afterwards that while some of the people who come see the child may feel bad they know that any kind gesture towards the child jeopardizes their way of life. It’s as if most of the people go on to live these full and joyous lives because they know at what expense that they’re able to. For some though, the truth is to much too bear and they decide to walk away from
