Post 5: Psychology of "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas"

 This story, "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas," takes place at the Festival of Summer in Omelas which people who are celebrating and be happy to dance around. They sacrificed an innocent child over partying and food. In the first paragraph, it said that "[c]hildren dodged in and out, their high calls rising like the swallows' crossing flights over the music and the singing" (Le Guin). The people of Omelas were to live in a utopia; they want to be happy people. I felt terrible for the children because it was untreated fair and disrespectful. Le Guin is critiquing about "[h]appiness is based on a just discrimination of what is necessary, what is neither necessary nor destructive, and what is destructive." In other words, it is saying that happiness predicated on simple discrimination of what's necessary, what's neither essential nor harmful, and what's harmful.

Comments

  1. Benn-Alpha EnoFebruary 12, 2021 at 4:03 PM

    Guin's story does critique the decision of the people of Omela but also elaborating on the cost of releasing the child we actually begin to understand why they allowed such a thing. Its only natural for us as a people to make sacrifices for the greater good of the whole.

    ReplyDelete
  2. LizbethFebruary 13, 2021 at 4:38 PM

    I never though of Guin's story being about discrimination. This is now making me rethink The story and look at it more closely.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Brian PhamFebruary 14, 2021 at 9:29 AM

    The people discriminating based on their happiness and greed is a different outlook on this story that definitely opens my eyes to a new perspective.

    ReplyDelete

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