Batuhan Şen
15010003012
Lect. Esen Kara
ENG113
They All Know It Is There
"The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" is a short story by Ursula Le Guin which tells the story of a city called Omelas. The city is unique, because while the citizens dwell in wealth and prosperity, one kid must suffer and live in filth. The story questions whether can you live while an innocent kid suffers, or would you walk away? In this way, Scapegoating becomes necessity for the order of the Omelas society. In this paper, I will analyse the scapegoat motif in "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas."
To examine scapegoat motive in this short story, one must talk about the 'Scapegoat'.
It's a term used to describe someone who takes the blame for the things he/she …show more content…
It wouldn’t be shocking to readers if it wasn’t a kid. Langbauer states: "Presenting children's suffering forces us to regard it.Much too often we screen ourselves from the agony of children, as Dickens's parents did, as Scrooge does, as even Dickens did too, because it hurts too much to consider." (95) The scapegoat has to be a kid, because kids symbolize things like innocent and purity. La Guin plays her remorse card here. Its morally more striking to kill a child than a grown man or woman.
In summary, the kid is the scapegoat himself in this story. The child has to be sacrificed for the common good. It’s a morally incorrect and a hard statement, but it’s a sacrifice that Omelas people have to make, and its not evil as it sounds when looked at from perspective of pragmatism.Its easy to blame the people of Omelas, but its not logical as it may sound.
Works Cited
Bennett, Barbara. "Through Ecofeminist Eyes: Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas." The English Journal 94,.6 (2005): 63-68.JSTOR [JSTOR]. Web. 13 Mar. 2016. Langbauer, Laurie. "Ethics and Theory: Suffering Children in Dickens, Dostoevsky, and Le Guin." ELH 75.1 (2008): 89-108. JSTOR [JSTOR].
15010003012
Lect. Esen Kara
ENG113
They All Know It Is There
"The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" is a short story by Ursula Le Guin which tells the story of a city called Omelas. The city is unique, because while the citizens dwell in wealth and prosperity, one kid must suffer and live in filth. The story questions whether can you live while an innocent kid suffers, or would you walk away? In this way, Scapegoating becomes necessity for the order of the Omelas society. In this paper, I will analyse the scapegoat motif in "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas."
To examine scapegoat motive in this short story, one must talk about the 'Scapegoat'.
It's a term used to describe someone who takes the blame for the things he/she …show more content…
It wouldn’t be shocking to readers if it wasn’t a kid. Langbauer states: "Presenting children's suffering forces us to regard it.Much too often we screen ourselves from the agony of children, as Dickens's parents did, as Scrooge does, as even Dickens did too, because it hurts too much to consider." (95) The scapegoat has to be a kid, because kids symbolize things like innocent and purity. La Guin plays her remorse card here. Its morally more striking to kill a child than a grown man or woman.
In summary, the kid is the scapegoat himself in this story. The child has to be sacrificed for the common good. It’s a morally incorrect and a hard statement, but it’s a sacrifice that Omelas people have to make, and its not evil as it sounds when looked at from perspective of pragmatism.Its easy to blame the people of Omelas, but its not logical as it may sound.
Works Cited
Bennett, Barbara. "Through Ecofeminist Eyes: Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas." The English Journal 94,.6 (2005): 63-68.JSTOR [JSTOR]. Web. 13 Mar. 2016. Langbauer, Laurie. "Ethics and Theory: Suffering Children in Dickens, Dostoevsky, and Le Guin." ELH 75.1 (2008): 89-108. JSTOR [JSTOR].