yet another crazy society

"The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas". This article was one of the more detailed out of the ones we have read so far. The story requires more energy and thought in order o find is meaning and purpose. This piece is a little disheartening because it tells of a happy society, were music is always playing and dancing is always being done. But, it goes on to describe a lonely child locked up in a cellar simply deteriorating with every moment. Every single citizen is aware of this child, but nothing is done because to do something runs the risk of ending the city's happiness. But, LeGuin does not leave the reader without hope, because there are a select few people who visit the child and do not return to their old lives, but instead leave Omela in search of something else. This story i an intriguing one that leaves the reader thinking. However, it does not go on my top list of most impressive pieces of literature. I guess it is the ambiguity of its meaning. I am left with too many questions bouncing around in my head.

Honestly, I see this Omela story as a resemblance to Brave New World more than the novel 1984. 1984 talks of a society that was not constructed around a the happiness of a society, but solely on the government's power over its peoples' lives. BNW and Omela take a different approach to authority control. Similar to BNW is the idea that the betterment of society as a whole, as a unit, is much more important thanthe happiness of one individual; "to throw away the happiness of thousands for the chance of the happiness of one" (LeGuin). More imporantly, these two stories talk to a society that is worried mstly about keeping its citizens in a state of extreme happiness. In BNW the government uses a drug called soma to keep people in jolly state. Omela even suggests the use of a drug by saying "drooz which first brings a great lightness and brilliance to the mind and limbs..." (LeGuin), and also suggests beer.

If forced to compare this story to the novel 1984, I would have to focus on the imprisonment of the lonely child. As in 1984, this society has no trouble with the sacrificing of one person's happiness for the assurance of order and happiness of society. Winston, Julia, and this child have this in common. They were the sacrifices of the continuing of society in the strict way.

As in any good or even credible piece of literature, literary devices are important to the meaning of the piece. In Omela, there a a number of literary devices. Imagery is an important and prominent device used. The author uses tons of imagery to show the reader what a happy society he is describing. By building up this sense of beauty, it makes the situation with the child in the cellar that much more appalling. The imagery and the child contrast in such a way that makes it impact the reader that much stronger. Hyperboles are used in the description of the city as a way to heighten the extravagance of the society. Also, similes, metaphors, etc are used.

To end this, I pose these questions:
1. Where do those select people who, after seeing the child, choose not to go back home but leave Omela all together?
2. Who are these people that leave? Are there certain characteristics that they all hold?
3. The is described as perhaps being a boy, or even a girl. Why is the child not given any specific qualities, but they are instead left to the reader's imagination?
4. What was LeGuin's purpose for writing this?
5. are the people of Omela truly happy, or are they only happy because they are brought up to be so and are ignorant of anything else?


... there you have it.