Finish reading and complete a typed fiction outline for Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas." Using complete sentences and paragraphs, post an answer to the following interpretive question: Are the ones who walk away believable or incredible? What qualities would these people have to possess?

-- Anonymous, December 07, 2004

Answers

I'm first yet again...(2nd time)

I think that the people who walked away were incredible to leave their happiness and go against what they had lived with all of these years. They had to incredible to realize that what the rest of society believed was wrong. Some may call this incredible while others may call this a rebellion. Either way, the ones who walked away went against the society and what they believed was wrong.

These people have to have courage to walk against the way the world is going. They also need compassion and empathy to know how the child feels and to know that it is not fair that that one child is being restrained from going and knowing about the outside world. These people need the quality of being humane, of knowing what is wrong and right. “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” shows that people just need to stop thinking about themselves and look through someone else’s eyes to know the difficulties of life.

-- Anonymous, December 15, 2004

I agree with Zenubia, the ones who walk away from Omelas are indeed incredible. These people walk away from a perfect utopia without having anywhere to go, especially anyplace that would compare with Omelas. They do this because of the inhumanity towards one individual who in the eyes of happiness is not even considered that (an individual).

I also think however, that this is sort of non sensical because the ones who walk away from Omelas will only find the same pain placed on many more people elsewhere. However I do suppose because elsewhere the pain is layered over such a vast number of people it is less than the pain placed on the child here, since there is only one child to take the pain and awfulness of their lives.

Mosty though I think they are incredible because without ever looking back these people walk away from something that most people have tried all their lives to achieve or at least have a small portion of.

-- Anonymous, December 15, 2004

I got here before you Jared!!!! HA

Now to get right down to business. The people who walked away are incredible because of several reasons. In the Bible there is talk of Eden. Eden as to be heaven on Earth, but because of a serpent Adam , Eve ad humanity were all banned from the place. A place like Omelas is exactly what we humans discribe as heaven on Earth. There are always parties and festivals. Some people want naked women dancing in the streets. This city has it all. Bu as you start to believe this city "has it all" we learn about the little child. This chile seems in someway represent every thing that is wrong with people today. Sorry I'm going off on a tangent back to the question.

The people who walked away are incredible. They are incredile because they walked away from perfection. MOst religons have you try to become someone or o be very close to perfection. This city seemed to represent this.YOu had to be very brave to walk way from everything you have strived for.

I am Sean Pleasant and I approved this answer.

-- Anonymous, December 15, 2004

The one who walk way from Omelas are incredible. They have left their comfort zones. It is not clear why they left, but they did leave. It is as if, they realized that they live in a society that depends on someone’s misery to survive. They leave their homes and don’t look back. This is very incredible. They left their whole way of life, no questions asked. They seem to have gotten sick of thriving, while one lives in permanent pain. They leave the city as if to announce, it is not my fault that one is in pain.

-- Anonymous, December 15, 2004

I think that the people who leave the city of Omelas are brave but believable. Although almost everyone else remainins inconsiderate of and turns a blind eye to the "sniveling child", these revolutionaries are resisting peer pressure and following their sense of right and wrong. This is commendable and reveals a character of dignity, kindness, and respect for life in those who "walk away from Omelas".

The fact that they seem to know where they are going suggests a better place unknown to the citizens of Omelas. Perhaps, someday they will return and liberate the unfortunate child who is the scapegoat of the sins and wrongdoings of the other people of Omelas. Those who walked away from Omelas displayed their sense of fairness. In conclusion, this story was both interesting and thought-provoking.

-- Anonymous, December 15, 2004

I think the Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas are both incredible and believable. I think it’s incredible that they could walk away from their past. Leave their families in a daze because of what they saw. When they realized why their who lives had been nothing but bliss, its amazing that they couldn’t just overlook it to stay happy.

It’s believable though that they could walk away. Because in the story it is known or at least accepted that they really couldn’t do anything about that child. But instead of even trying they just walked away.

Ursala Guin is and interesting writer. She has a way of making you think about different kinds of misery in both this story and other ones she has written.

Overall, I prefer Richmond to the Omelas. It's a little less... creepy.

-- Anonymous, December 15, 2004

sorry i was re-reading mine and i realize there is a who out of place which kind of makes the whole sentence look bad.

My bad.

-- Anonymous, December 15, 2004

I think that the people who walk away are incredible. I highly doubt that one person a night would disregard his whole town and leave a seemingly perfect world in sympathy for some deprived and arguably tortured kid. I do not think these people would know that it is wrong to just look at the kid and look away and have nothing changed. It is what they learned. If, under rare occasion, someone did think they knew where they were going, they would simply look back their town and think any place had to be better than a place where people throve off a little kid's misery.

-- Anonymous, December 15, 2004

The ones who walk away from Omelas are most definitely believable. They are believable because simply, wouldn't you do the same thing? Think about it, if you lived somewhere where it was COMPLETELY obsessed with being perfect that they would shun a little deformed boy because it might mess up their "groove", would you leave? The answer is, "Of course I would!" (well, maybe). The people who walk away should be very well respected because what they are doing is very couragous and takes a lot of heart. They might not know where they are going, but they know they would rather risk it than stay in a horrible place like that.

-- Anonymous, December 15, 2004

Brace yourselves for another long one, guys:

Garrison Keillor, one of my all-time favorite comedians, had a sketch on his radio program “A Prairie Home Companion” that reminds me a great deal of the final paragraph of Ursula Le Guin’s short story, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”, and I thought I might share it with you now. “Once upon a time in a small town in Minnesota, there lived many happy people together. There was a barber shop with the little twirlie-sign out front and a little gas station that made a little *ding* when you ran over the wire. On their radio sets, they had prerecorded heavy metal rock concerts, and steamy, late-night radio interviews, and one by one, the people went into the woods, and never came back. That’s why we, here at the Ketchup Advisory Board, are proud to offer this small Minnesota town National Public Radio, which allows them to listen to classical yodeling concertos and a 45 minute interview with an old, Appalachian woman who makes weathervanes out of coathangers. The Ketchup Advisory Board welcomes National Public Radio to this small town, and we hope you will do the same. Thank you.”

Well, ladies and gentlemen, the same ratio applies to this short story from my long-winded metaphor. The people are not only believable, but right and just in their cause. As with the ketchup advertisement, these people walked into the woods, and never came back. We do not know if these former Omelalians that strayed past the flock survived, but we do know that they were so incredibly disgusted with the way that the entire “utopian” process in Omelas (as I am) that they left, contemplating why the poor, lonely, dumb child was meant to rot in the basement while “all the world wondered” (“The Charge of the Light Brigade”). The only two traits these persons must have are empathy for the child in the cellar and a sound, sane mind. The Omelalians that stay take on an “ignorance is bliss” attitude, forget about the whole ordeal, and follow the flute boy in their “perfect world.”

I have a bone to pick with Ms. Le Guin’s description of a utopia, because, in my mind, it is far from it. Maybe she finds heavy drinking (she allows beer in her kingdom come) and gratuitous sex (she allows naked priests to roam the streets, vulnerable to any lascivious deed that might come over a person) a heaven on earth, but I certainly do not. Not only this, the most obvious evidence against Le Guin’s claim is the faceless child in the bodega. This leads me full-circle to where those who truly understand life walk away from Omela, away from unhappiness.

The whole is equal to the sum of its parts, and a utopia is not excluded from this ideal. Leaving a child in a crypt for a reason so heinous, so cruel that Ms. Le Guin did not make the point of actually including it into her story. Bummer for us, the readers. Anyway, this child had to sit and wait while the rest of the town abided in pure bliss (we now know this to be incorrect). The ones who walk away from Omelas are right in their beliefs, just in their cause, and are entirely believable. This is, therefore, not a utopia. This is insanity at the pinnacle of its lunacy.

-- Anonymous, December 15, 2004

I do believe that they are believable. If I were in a place like that I would want to leave quickly. Walking away from that would be one of the smartest decisions anyone there would have made. This society was not fit for most people if not all people. What happens in this place is horrible and should never happen anywhere. These people are very smart for walking away. They would have to be very intelligent people to notice what is truly wrong about where they live and leave. For the people what did not leave, they are not so bright. They just kind of got used to it and live with it, which is not good at all. This is not good because the society is horrible for anyone.

-- Anonymous, December 15, 2004

I believe that the people who walk away from Omelas are incredible. I believe this because they are walking away from a perfect world for one boy. They have all the happiness and freeness they could ever need and they sacrifice it for one child. I think it is somewhat noble that they walk out of the city because they are disgusted by the treatment of the boy, but I think they could do something better. For instance, instead of just giving up and walking away, they could something productive like protest. If all the people that walked away would stay and try to change the fact instead of just avoid it they might make a difference. To be someone who walks away from Omelas you must have tremendous courage since you are facing a world that you have never been to. You must also have strength to find a new life in another place. You must also be very sympathetic or else you wouldn’t care about the boy in the first place.

-- Anonymous, December 15, 2004

Simply put, it takes guts to walk away from Omelas. The people who do so are incredible in their conviction and strength of character, willing to leave behind everything they know and march out into an uncertain and certainly far less “perfect” world for the sake of one insignificant, retarded child.

Most people would give several limbs to live in a perfect world; the citizens of Omelas get that perfect world with no direct sacrifice on their part. The wonderful weather, beautiful people, flourishing culture, excellent health, gorgeous surroundings, super-drugs (optional), and amazing uninhibited sex (again, optional) come with but one small price: one of Omelas’ number, a being who cannot even fully enjoy all the pleasures of life, must live in abject misery and isolation. The average person would accept this as a harsh reality and then continue living in this paradise; after all, trying to change anything would ruin the perfection of the city.

The few who walk away, however, must both realize their hand in the child’s suffering and be brave and selfless enough to free the child from paying for their happiness. As callous as it sounds, very few people are willing to give up their comfort and happiness so that another does not have to pay for it.

Also, “walking away” requires tremendous courage on the part of the leaving party. Those who leave Omelas go towards an uncertain future in an unfamiliar place; it is almost impossible that they will find any community as ideal as the “perfect” city. Your average Joe does not leave behind everything he knows and march into a far crueler world, even if it means that some poor retarded kid locked up in a cellar won’t have to suffer for Joe’s happiness. Your average Joe would feel bad for the kid, feel lucky that he wasn’t the kid, remember to live life to the fullest, possibly say a prayer for the kid, and go right back to his horse race or drooz trip or communal orgy or whatever it is that he enjoys in his perfect city.

It takes incredible conviction of right and wrong, strength of character, and a massive amount of courage to walk away from an injustice practiced by everyone around you.

Walkers, I commend ye.

-- Anonymous, December 15, 2004

The people who walk away are completely believeable. They are believable because one very shocking thing can alter different people in diffrent ways. Just like the story said, some people became angry, and some people became sad, but for some people seeing something like that would be far to much to handle. Especially if you had lived with nothing but comfort for your entire life. When you see something that is so depressing and so disturbing sometimes peoples reaction is to run away from it. The people who walked out realized why they had been so happy their entire life and didn't want to continue as part of that way of life. So they left. It seems like a very believable and understandable thing to me.

-- Anonymous, December 15, 2004

I think that the ones who walk away are believable. Though some people might find it hard to leave once immersed into a seemingly perfect world as that, the truly moral person would realize that though the well-being comes at the cost of the child’s comfort and feelings, that is too much.

I think that if one person is at a disadvantage and all others are raised above that person, they should be equalized. Some people in Omelas might share this view and choose to leave once they realize that what is taking place is not right. Therefore, the ones who walk away from Omelas are believable.

-- Anonymous, December 15, 2004

Wow. That was one interesting story. I think the ones who walk away are believable. See, here's my thoughts... Though people have forever tried to create a society like Omelas, or one similar, they have failed. But just think, if it could indeed be accomplished, what then? It's the struggles that make life. Without them, it would just be dull. Eventually you would tire of all the festivities and what not. Now I am not saying that if any of you ever manage to create a society like that to not let me in on it. One could be content with that style of life, but only for a bit. People spend all of their life trying to improve the quality of their's, or their offspring's lives. If everything is already there and done, what would be the point?

I think that the people who see the anguish and misery of the child, finally comprehend that there are worse things in the world, and decide to venture out and find them. A better city in that it is not quite so perfect, so as one may actually have a purpose in life instead of just having everything. This is why I find them believable. But hey, knowing me, I've argued this all wrong, so I guess I'll draw this to a close by saying that for qualities one must possess to walk away, are intelligence (to realize it) and ambitiousness (to venture out looking for that better place).

-- Anonymous, December 16, 2004

Those that walk away from Omelas are the ones that are truly believable. These people have a conscience and compassion. The people of Omelas that are, “happy,” have seen the child and have had to deal with the inner conflict of the terms. People cant truly be happy living with the weight of that knowledge.

-- Anonymous, December 16, 2004

I find that this entire story (including the people who walk away) is very beleivable, in the way the story was told. No, this wouldn't be beleivable as a REAL LIFE event, but it is beleivable in a different sense, due to the world the author has created for us. This may seem crazy, and it probably is, but it makes sense to me. If the author succesfully creates a new world or environment for the reader, almost anything logical could be beleivable.

The ones who walk away are beleivable, along with the rest of the story. These few people may have just realized that their life in it's entirety is only possible when the amount of misery is balanced out with the sheer enjoyment, and that the scociety of Omela just has all of their misery packed into one painful box, and that they don't think it is right to make things incredibly horrible for only one person, instead of spreading things out among everybody close to equally. It is enough to drive people insane, and it probably did.

-- Anonymous, December 16, 2004

Sean, almost everybody posted before

First off, I think that Omelas was not really a Utopia, it was a city full of physcos. I would never want to stay there, so I'm gonna have to side with the people who leave. I think they're pretty beleiveable becasuse they walk away from such a crackpot city where they have to starve little kids in basements to be happy. A city like that is just weird. Also, I think it is a little cruel to be mean to little kids like that, even if it does mean that a couple weirdos can be happy in their creepy little city. The people who walked away are very beleviable.

-- Anonymous, December 16, 2004

The ones who walk away are both believable and incredible. They are believable because anyone who realizes the source of their happiness is a miserable child and has common decency would walk away. However, they are incredible because it is definitely admirable to leave the only lifestyle they have ever known behind.

I know that it’s a total cop-out to choose both, so now I’m going to pick one. Although both are logical arguments, I believe the ones who walk away are incredible. Granted, everyone should walk away, but it is not human nature to leave everything you have ever known. As for qualities these people must possess, they must be brave, compassionate, and confidence. Bravery is required to leave behind their lifestyle. Compassion is required to leave the lifestyle behind because of the little child’s misery. Confidence is required to leave by oneself and not be too afraid of the future to come back.

-- Anonymous, December 16, 2004