1. If you were a citizen of Omelas, would you stay or would you walk? Please explain and justify your decision.
When asked whether one would stay or walk away from the supposed utopia of Omelas created by Ursula K Le Guin, the first thought is usually 'walk'. There is a child suffering in the basement - he is locked up, sits in his own excrement, feeds on an inhumane amount of food per day and receives no kindness whatsoever. The moral compass within one points away from Omelas. However, not everyone follows their moral compass.
I know it is right to leave. Sacrificing the happiness of one in exchange for the perfection of Omelas is wrong. Everyone should be given an equal chance to be happy. Nonetheless, I doubt I would be able to do so. If I were to leave without the child, what difference would that make? I would leave the only life I'd have ever known and be walking into complete darkness. The way I see it, who is to say that there aren't worse places outside of the confines of Omelas? I know it is right to leave but I don't think I could if I were faced with the decision.
Things in Omelas would not be significantly different if I were to leave. My family, my friends and even the child in the basement would still be exactly where they were if I was not. The situation would be different if I could take the child with me and free him from his prison. However, all the beauty in Omelas depends "wholly on this child's abominable misery" (Le Guin, pg. 3). By taking him with me, I would be destroying every other citizens' "happiness, the beauty of their city, the tenderness of their friendships, the health of their children, the wisdom of their scholars, the skill of their makers" (Le Guin, pg. 3) and even more. I cannot leave on my own and know that I've made an improvement to the child's fortunes nor can I take him with me and know that every other inhabitant's life will be undisrupted. They won't. And if I were to walk, the child would be undisrupted from his constant misery.
What is outside of Omelas? As a citizen, I would be unaware of anything other than the utopia that I have been born into and grown up in. The world outside could be dangerous and more intolerable than one where "there may not even be a kind word spoken to the child" (Le Guin, pg. 4). Omelas has one flaw. Other places may have two, three, dozens or millions of flaws. I know that I wouldn't be able to take such a risk, wouldn't be able to leave the comfort of my home. Le Guin states on page 2 that "One thing I know there is none of in Omelas is guilt." I would not need to feel guilty for living a perfect life while the child lives in anguish. Outside of my utopia there may be guilt, embarrassment, anger and disappointment.
In closing, I would stay in Omelas. I cannot do anything about the situation nor can I know that I will be leaving Omelas for a better society. I am not ashamed to admit that I would rather remain in that society than walk away. I am a person who weighs the pros and the cons of every decision before I make it and I cannot see the benefits of leaving outweighing the disadvantages of staying.
Works cited:
Ursula K Le Guin, "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas."
