Dec 19, 2009

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas | Literary Qualities

The story is divided into two fairly distinct sections. In the first section the narrator attempts to describe Omelas even though he or she notes more than once that the description is inadequate and does not capture the joy and happiness of Omelas. In the second section the narrator reveals the existence of the child and matter-of-factly describes the awful conditions in which it is forced to live.

A narrator who is not an active participant in the story and does not have any special insight into the characters' perceptions narrates "Omelas" in the third person. Since the...