Symbol Essay Boot Camp

Tainara Candido

Ap English

The Children in the Basement of Society

The child in the basement of the city of Omelas and the city itself in the short story, “The Ones who walk away from Omelas” written by Ursula LeGuin, represents society with its problems and suffering people. Omelas is an Utopia where anything desired can be acquired. The child is symbolic of the suffering that can exist in a city, even an utopia. The inhabitants of Omelas do not condone the environment the child lives within, yet the ones who walk away from Omelas do so silently and are still part of the problem. The author’s message conveys the attitude of society towards problems in the world. The town of Omelas is a happy and carefree town where festivals and celebrations occur year-round; yet for there to be happiness there must also be suffering. The child who lives in the basement of the city of Omelas suffers for the rest of Omelians to be happy.

Omelas represents society and its actions towards suffering in the world. The citizens of Omelas are “joyous!” and were focused on happiness. The author describes other people as no longer being able to “make any celebration of joy” and the people of Omelas are the opposite of that, they can describe a happy man for they themselves are happy men. Society today is often too self-absorbed to change anyone’s life. The people of Omelas were too hapy to rescue the child in the basement, the child’s suffering justified by the fact that his suffering made possible the happiness of the people of Omelas. Indeed, if the child were saved, all the “prosperity and beauty and delight of Omelas would wither and be destroyed.” In Society, there are people who suffer for the luxury of others. Sweatshops run rampant among popular clothing stores in America, although they themselves are not situated in America. The working and laboring class around the world recieving two dollars a day to make the cheaper clothing of middle-class citizens are suffering and nothing is being done. Society today operates on a basis of “almost-giving”. Many people speak of shows or of stories they have heard where children are being abused and they felt so terrible that they almost “gave” to the children but don’t. The same is true of the people in Omelas who “often go home in years, or in a tearless rage”. A person may become upset, but they will not act upon their feelings and the problems of this world persist. The people of Omelas come to accept the “terrible justice of reality” for to help the child would disrupt the happiness of thousands of lives in Omelas. Exactly the same in society where to take time and to help someone in need, would be to take time out of their busy day and that simply cannot be done.

The Ones who walk away from Omelas are part of the problem as well. They are not seen coming back to the village of Omelas and rescuing the child, they disappear. The ones who “leave Omelas, they walk ahead into the darkness, and they do not come back.” They remain silent and ignore the problem. If the ones who walked away from Omelas were to do something great and help the child, they would be heard of again in the town indicating that they then became part of the solution. But they do not come back to help the child, they ignore the problem. Some members of society decide to help suffering peoples of the world by contributing to charity and are then absolved of any guilt they might have felt through not helping. However, contributing a small amount of money is not impacting the lives of daily sufferers enough for them to be absolved of any guilt. These members of society do not truly want to help and they too have realized the significance the suffering peoples of the world hold.

The short story of Ursula LeGuin serves as a reminder of human nature. Humans will not solve another person’s problem they deem important to their solution just as the citizens of Omelas will not help the suffering child when his suffering is ensuring their happiness. The Ones who walk away from Omelas are not part of the solution, but still a part of the problem since they are never heard of again. Society realizes they need lower class working peoples that are suffering for the middle-class and upper-class peoples’ luxury; like Omelas realizes the need for the child in the basement of its Utopian society and who is central to their happiness.

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