The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas Summary

“The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” a short story by Ursula K. Le Guin, begins in the seaside city of Omelas with a festival to celebrate summer. The whole city comes together for the festival, which includes processions, a horserace, singing, and dancing. The narrator takes a moment to explain to the reader that the people of Omelas have everything they need and nothing more. They do not live in

a fairytale world, but they do live without guilt.

As the preparations for the festival and the race are underway, a small boy, about ten years old, is playing a flute. The people of Omelas gather around to listen. The boy seems not to notice their presence despite the fact that they gather in larger numbers, closer and closer. His song ends and the race begins, kicking off the Festival of Summer.

The young boy has not had an easy life. The story flashes back to show the boy in a dark, dank room with only mops, a bucket, and insects for company. There are no windows, and the child lives in filth and fear. He is fed small quantities of food and water a few times a day, and people come to view him at which point he is sometimes kicked until he stands for the viewing. He is gawked at with disgust, but no one speaks to him. The boy asks for his freedom but it is not granted.

All of the adult citizens of Omelas know of the child, and the state of his existence; many of them have gone to view him. His misery yields their happiness and the happiness of the entire city. Some of the adults understand this connection, some don’t—but all of them know about it and feel no guilt about making this child miserable so that they need not be. Initially, when the people of Omelas are brought to view the child, they want to help them. Many of them are children themselves when they view him for the first time. However, they know that if they help him, Omelas would be destroyed and the happiness of its people would be forfeited.

Over time, the citizens of Omelas grow to accept the child’s fate; they determine that to rescue the child would not only harm Omelas and all who live there, but also the child. They convince themselves that he could not and would not want to adapt to a free life. Their acceptance is further solidified by their belief that his suffering lends a solemn note to life in Omelas that contributes to the beauty and innovation of their society.

Not all succumb to this hive-mentality of cruelty-inspired bliss. Some people can not live an idyllic lifestyle if it means that they must accept the suffering of this child. Instead of staying in Omelas, they leave. They walk away into the unknown never to return. They do not free the child, but they cannot live happily knowing their happiness involves accepting and participating in the cruelty of his situation. They are the ones who walk away from Omelas.

The story focuses on the nature of an ethical dilemma. All who live in Omelas either choose to accept a life of guilt-free happiness despite the abject suffering of a child or leave and forget the abject suffering of a child. None of them exercises the option to help or even speak to the child. This is a reflection on society as a whole. There are members of society who suffer, but rather than sacrifice one’s own happiness to help them, most people choose to ignore them and walk away, or accept their suffering as a necessary evil and go on living their own lives in relative happiness.

Happiness is another major theme of the story; while the people of Omelas think they are happy, they are not really. They say they live without guilt but there is a somber quality to their lives because they know the child suffers so they needn’t suffer. The only ones who are truly happy are those who are ignorant of the boy’s suffering—the children who have not been brought to see him yet. This is much the same as adults taking steps to shield children from the hardships of life to maintain their innocence. People value and long for the innocence of childhood, yet at the same time, act to destroy it once children have reached a certain age.

The child is a scapegoat, one who is made to suffer so that others do not have to. The difference between a martyr and a scapegoat is that the latter is rarely a volunteer, and is usually punished for wrongs that the scapegoat is not actually involved in. Scapegoats are used every day, and in The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, Le Guin asks us to examine if we are using a scapegoat.