The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas By Ursula Le Guin

Human nature plays a huge role in how our societies function. Even in a utopian environment such as Omelas in "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas", by Ursula Le Guin. This society values happiness as one of their greatest virtues, but like any human civilization, it comes at a steep price. Because of humans' tendency to become violent, this story focuses on how this society practices no destructive behaviors whatsoever. Although this is true for the most part, they are still human, and must find an outlet for their inherently aggressive nature. Omelas is described as "... Not simple folk, you see, though they were happy", which is accurate, for they are not to be misunderstood as basic and uneducated, but do not find any interest in asserting that sort of dominance (Le Guin). This society has just as complex a structure as a normal society does, but they do not have all the faults of a normal society. A very important point in the description of Omelas is when the speaker says, "Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting" (Le Guin). The speaker says this is how our society functions, for it is in human nature to subject …show more content…
This raises the question of how they can function without any conflict, whereas our society is built around conflict. The speaker describes a child locked in a broom closet its whole life. It will not see the light of day, will never experience love and happiness. This is where Omelas vents its aggression. This child is an outlet for the negative influences of human nature. This is the only place for violence, but is the sole source of balance in Omelas. The individuals who are interested in the child explore fear and pain as they witness the disparity the child's life, thus releasing their own aggression. Those who do not witness this flaw in their society first hand are too perplexed at the idea of pain to experience it