OMELAS
‘ The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas ‘ was published by Ursula K. Le Guin in 1973.
It’s a short story that belongs to the science-fiction genre. When we first read the title we thought the work was going to be scaring, but then the initial part made us change our minds.
Omelas is an utopian city in which people live harmoniously and in peace but their happiness depends on the condition of a child who lives in a cell.
In the end some citizens decide to leave this sort of fake paradise where their well-being is connected to the suffering of the child.
Also in today’s society, similarly to the story, children and less privileged are exploited by the upper-middle class, for instance child labour in third world countries or the poor salaries of hard-working people.
According to our point of view the purpose of the author is to denounce social injustices and we believe she managed to reach her goal because even after our first reading we clearly understood the message behind the story.
We personally recommend the story specifically to young people, also because of its shortness and because it makes you think over social problems that surround us.
Degli Esposti, Ghelfi, Lappezzata, Merli
VE - VG
The Ones who walk away from Omelas is a dystopic science fiction written by Ursula K. Le Guin in 1973.
RispondiEliminaThe first part the citizens are celebrating the Festival of Summer: a multitude of people is walikng across the town singing and dancing. At first sight this place seems peaceful, a perfect heaven where there is neither violence nor war, no kings, no slaves, no secret police, no stock exchange, no guilt. But as you keep reading you will discover that underneath the bright surface lies a darker reality. In a cellar, underground, there is a room with no windows and a locked door where a child, boy or girl, malnourished, scared and neglected is held captive, but this is done for a greater good so that only one has to suffer for the happiness of all. Everyone knows that they depend completely on the misery of this child and for this reason they know compassion, kindness and gratitude. There are some people though, who can’t accept the sight of this poor child and walk away and never come back, towards unknown and far lands.
Omelas is a fictional city but it can be whatever the reader wants, real or not, happy or sad, wrong or right, bad or good, depends on the point of view. The writer struggles trying to find an objective descriprion of this place and for this reason leaves the reader the possibility to imagine it.
The Ones who walk away from Omelas is a gripping short story that changes point of view quite suddenly leaving the reader surprised at the turn that things had taken, since as you start reading it you won’t imagine how the things will really end. The dystopic genre used by the writer hepls us noticing the critic that she makes to the people and to the system, which turn around a lie: no one wants to change and no one wants to take the risk to revers the situation. Perhaps what Le Guin wants to transimit is to never close your mind and to understand what is right and what is wrong. Another critic she makes can be faund in the name “Omleas” which keep inside the name of the city “Salem”, famous for the fenomenon of the Witch Hunting, something that caused a lot of unnecessary deaths and misery, as it’s happening to the child kept in the cell.
It’s an interesting reading, full detailed descriptions easy to understand. We recommend it to everyone who is curious to face a different dimension and also to the ones who would like to use their immagination to fill those gaps left by the writer since the city of Omelas is to abstract to be described.
Perugini Francesca, Bushati Amela, Celli Morgana, Beccari Mattero, 5GL