In Omelas, there is only one child who must suffer to maintain the “egalitarian” society even though her/his condition is arguably worse than a typical middle-class citizen. This situation is an interesting take on the class division because the “exploited” class normally constitutes the majority of people, the working class, in a capitalist society. The “upper class” in the story, the citizens, seem to have adopted a worldview based on utilitarian principles by putting the well-being of a city, not the child, as the top priority. Essentially, this division between the child and the citizens of Omelas is a form of class division. In the story, the child is the exploited one even though we are told that he or she did nothing wrong to be placed in that position in the first place. There are several themes that this short story has chosen to explore, and one of them is exploitation within a society. As for the child, we know very little about him or her except for the fact that the whole city’s well-being depends on him/her alone.
The citizens are simply background characters for most of the time, but this does not stop them from being very complicated people with conflicting motives and thoughts, just like the rest of us who have become a citizen of Omelas by participating in the construction of this city. This premise seems promising at the beginning because we are given the liberty to fulfill our desires, but the startling revelation about the child prisoner whose misery is the key to this city’s happiness and prosperity bursts our bubble of imagination. At the beginning, the readers are invited by the narrator to imagine this city according to their ideals. The story is not character driven, but rather, it is filled with descriptions of the city and the narrator’s dialogue with the readers. The story takes place in the City of Omelas, which is a very beautiful city right next to the sea, and it follows the citizens of Omelas who are preparing and celebrating the start of the Festival of Summer. Personally, this tale is a very meaningful experience because it touches upon many important aspects of humanity.
“The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” is a short story written by Ursula Kroeber Le Guin, and it is a special story worthy of attention due to its underlying complexity despite it being a very simple story on the surface.