Can one truly know happiness if one has not seen misery? It is not possible for us to understand the full scope of our contentment, the privileges present within our lives, if we have no melancholy or sorrow to compare it to. Our perceptions of a range, a scale of joy can never be developed or measured, if there is no variance within our lives. If all the colours within our palate are colourful we would never be able to understand its contrast to dullness, never be able to understand the value of its bright hues.
In the short story, “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”, author Ursula Le Guin illustrates the necessity within a society to understand a scale of emotion, the pain and suffering of a being, to comprehend happiness. Le …show more content…
Through the darkness in the imagery, Le Guin sends a sense of the misery within the child. With only “little light [seeping] between cracks in the wall” (pg.4), cobwebbed corners, and the foul smell of excrements in what is described as a broom closet, this is the scenic embodiment of wretchedness and pain. This description is very different from the joyous “green meadows…[the] cheerful faint sweetness in the air..”(pg.1) present in Omelas. The atmospheres created are starkly different, nevertheless, as Le Guin outlined, one cannot exist without the other, “the city of happiness” (pg.7) relies on the vile place in which this child …show more content…
Without the pain of child slaves, we are deprived of the treasures at clothing stores such as Forever 21 or H&M. Without those who work tirelessly to pick our cocoa leaves for meager pay, we would never be able to enjoy the sweet flavour of chocolate. Our joy and contentment can simply not exist without the pain of others, especially for those who can not afford those luxuries without their mistreatment. If there was no starvation or hunger, we would never be able to appreciate the variety of our meals or the quench of our thirst. Those who are disadvantaged live in misery to serve our
In the short story, “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”, author Ursula Le Guin illustrates the necessity within a society to understand a scale of emotion, the pain and suffering of a being, to comprehend happiness. Le …show more content…
Through the darkness in the imagery, Le Guin sends a sense of the misery within the child. With only “little light [seeping] between cracks in the wall” (pg.4), cobwebbed corners, and the foul smell of excrements in what is described as a broom closet, this is the scenic embodiment of wretchedness and pain. This description is very different from the joyous “green meadows…[the] cheerful faint sweetness in the air..”(pg.1) present in Omelas. The atmospheres created are starkly different, nevertheless, as Le Guin outlined, one cannot exist without the other, “the city of happiness” (pg.7) relies on the vile place in which this child …show more content…
Without the pain of child slaves, we are deprived of the treasures at clothing stores such as Forever 21 or H&M. Without those who work tirelessly to pick our cocoa leaves for meager pay, we would never be able to enjoy the sweet flavour of chocolate. Our joy and contentment can simply not exist without the pain of others, especially for those who can not afford those luxuries without their mistreatment. If there was no starvation or hunger, we would never be able to appreciate the variety of our meals or the quench of our thirst. Those who are disadvantaged live in misery to serve our