Question

Can you give me a one-sentence summary capturing the main points and message of "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas"?Ursula LeGuin's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas"

Accepted Answer

This story is quite unconventional in terms of its narrative structure. The setting is established and the action of the plot begins, but the plot is never developed. Instead, the author focuses on the nature of Omelas and its culture, revealing the shocking truth upon which the unlimited happiness of its citizens is based. An innocent child is locked away somewhere below the surface of the town, tormented and abused and isolated from human compassion or aide. To comfort or save this single child would destroy happiness for all the others in Omelas.
In the exposition, Le Guin then reveals an amazing fact. Sometimes when the young in Omelas first view the child and sometimes, years later, there are those in Omelas who simply walk away from the town where they can live in complete happiness. They simply leave, even though they do not know where they will go or what they will encounter in the outside world. They are the ones who leave Omelas, and in their action, the theme of the story is realized.
It can be stated in many ways, but the heart of the writer's truth lies in this idea. To be truly human, a person cannot accept happiness that results from the immoral and cruel victimization and suffering of others; in order to preserve one's humanity, a moral choice must be made when confronted with such an evil in his society, regardless of the personal consequences.

Answer

"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" is more of a thought experiment than a conventional short story. It poses a moral question: is our collective happiness and well-being morally acceptable when it is founded on the suffering of another? If I were to condense the core meaning of this short story down to a single sentence, it would be that question.
Ultimately, LeGuin is levying a criticism against utilitarianism, an approach to ethics which understands moral decision-making as a kind of moral mathematics in which the consequences (or expected consequences) of one's actions should determine how one ought to act. Morally optimal decisions are understood as those that would result in maximal happiness (preferably for the greatest number of people) while accruing the lowest cost in suffering.
LeGuin's thought experiment in Omelas ultimately takes this moral theory to its most radical conclusion. What if we can guarantee maximal happiness (and create a utopia) while reducing the cost in suffering to that of a single innocent child? Can we honestly say that the utilitarian mathematics add up, and can we live with this moral compromise (and our own complicity within it) knowing that our own happiness and well-being has been purchased by the profound suffering of another?

Answer

In Ursula K. Le Guin's short story, the idyllic town of Omelas is full of happy people who live full lives that are replete with contentment and fun. However, each one of them must eventually learn the town's strange secret: a small child lives in a basement closet neglected, alone, and maltreated. This pathetic child must, in fact, exist in order for the rest of the citizens to enjoy their unbroken happiness; the community's joy relies on the abject misery of this young child because happiness cannot exist in the world without some knowledge of its opposite—just as our understanding of lightness relies on our experience with darkness. The citizens must either accept these terms or find a new home somewhere else.

Answer

Ursula K. Le Guin gave her story "The Ones Who Walk Away fro Omelas" a parenthetical subtitle, "Variations on a Theme by william James,"  a reference to the philosopher and psychologist who wrote that

some people could not accept even universal prosperity and happiness if it depended on the deliberate subjugation of an idiot child to abuse that it could barely understand.

Le Guin chose to write her story to explore the reasons why people avoid moral responsibility.  This theme of a scapegoat for the benefit of others has been historically enacted in societies in which the poor, underprivileged are overlooked by the propsperous.  In fact, Nazi Germany exemplifies this scapegoat concept with its imprisonment and annihilation of the jews.
Le Guin's intrusive narrator invites the reader to participate in this theme of moral responsibiltiy as well. She sends this message: Is the welfare of many worth the unjust misery of the individual?

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

Can you give me a one-sentence summary capturing the main points and message of "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas"? Ursula LeGuin's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas"

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