Why do we Walk Away? Why do we Stay?

By Sydney Finley

‘The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,’ a short story written by Ursula K. LeGuin,  details what life is like in the city of Omelas, a distant utopia that promises freedom from guilt and complexity. In short, the city of Omelas takes a pragmatic approach to survival; the life of a young child is eternally ruined in exchange for the guaranteed prosperity of its citizens. Despite Omelas being a seemingly fictional and uncharacteristic paradise of a city, the ways in which its people operate ominously parallels with our world today. The people of Omelas are faced with an opportunity cost of a dilemma: in order to promote and maintain prosperity and happiness, the city of Omelas must place a young child in a dank, filthy cellar-- or, they could remove the child, bathe and feed them, and provide adequate shelter for them, but at the cost of the betterment of their society. Because Omelas is a “guilt-free” community, most of the people of Omelas leave the child to suffer, reluctantly assenting to the harsh reality of their world. The few that choose to leave walk away silently, into a darkness that could be better or worse than where they are departing from. 

Throughout this story, LeGuin uses the concept of scapegoating as well as the theme of individuality vs. mentality in order to explain why some choose to “stay” or walk away in the wake of difficult situations. The young child in the cellar symbolizes the scapegoat, an individual or group of people who are chosen to take the blame for something, typically to uphold the image of another individual or group of people. If one chooses to “stay,” it would be to maintain harmony at the expense of a person or group’s happiness and well-being. Leaving, a seemingly more positive choice, would also continue to perpetuate this cycle of scapegoating, for nothing is done to advocate for the person or collective group that is suffering at the expense of many. In my opinion, those that silently walked out of Omelas are mirroring those that chose to stay-- they are doing so in order to avoid and ignore the problem that everyone knows exists. 

So many groups and individuals today are viewed as the scapegoats of our society. People of color, impoverished citizens, undocumented immigrants, and those who are believers of marginalized faiths are often targeted and blamed for our nation’s problems. Even though these issues are becoming more prevalent, there are still many who choose to ignore them— they either stay and accept the standard that has been set, or remove themselves from situations that would require them to advocate or speak on behalf of someone that society has targeted. Despite my efforts to change the ethical flaws that I see on a daily basis within my community, one person alone can only do so much. On a day to day basis, I have to accept many of the injustices and wrongdoings that exist within the communities that I am a part of. But, like the remaining people of Omelas, I rage silently, wishing that there was something that I could do to protect others, as well as myself. 

Sydney Finley is a McConnell Scholar in the Class of 2023. She is studying biology and political science at the University of Louisville.