“The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” a short tale by Ursula K. Le Guin, depicts a hypothetical situation in which a perfect society exists, but its pleasure is contingent on the misery of one child. The narrative addresses moral issues with utilitarian ideals of sacrificing the few for the greater good and the ethics of exploitation. This essay will explore how utilitarianism and exploitation provide affordable, necessary, practical, safer, and better lives for people.
The citizens of Omelas can keep living the perfect way of life so long as they sacrifice the well-being of one child. Analysis by Crowther and Güranç (36), the notion of utilitarianism maintains that the vast majority of people should strive to maximize their happiness and minimize their suffering wherever feasible. In Le Guin (275), the people of Omelas have shown their commitment to this idea by making the sacrifices required to preserve the peace in their community.
Further, the Omelas residents believe that keeping the child in the basement is feasible and essential. This is true because Omelas cannot become an imperfect society without the child’s suffering (Rozell 1530). According to Smart (24), every community has its concerns and problems; sometimes, a sacrifice must be made to maintain a certain quality of life. Geisslinger et al. (1042) assert that even though these situations are not ideal, there are sometimes required to maintain a certain quality of life.
Additionally, the citizens of Omelas believe it is preferable and safer to live with the knowledge that a child is hiding in the basement. According to Huculak, this is because Omelas is a civilization that is at peace, rich, and where the people are happy. Contrarily, the infant’s suffering ensures that society will continue functioning normally and harmoniously (Jones 7). Exploitation has been employed throughout history to achieve and sustain stability.
In conclusion, the residents of Omelas are not wicked since they find it affordable, essential, practical, safer, and better to live with the toddler in the basement. Even though it hurts a few, utilitarianism and exploitation keep society stable. While immoral, such techniques have been used throughout history to sustain social stability and advancement. It’s hard, but sometimes the greater good requires sacrifice. It is up to individuals to determine whether they will tolerate such consequences.
Works Cited
Crowther, David. “Walking away from Omelas.” Approaches to Global Sustainability, Markets, and Governance, Springer, Singapore, 2019, Web.
Geisslinger, Maximilian, et al. “Autonomous driving ethics: from trolley problem to ethics of risk.” Philosophy & Technology, vol. 34, no. 4, Springer Nature (Netherlands), 2021, pp. 1033–55. Web.
Güranç, Merve. “An analysis of the utopia question in Ursula Le Guin’s “The ones who walk away from Omelas.” Journal of English Language and Literature Club 1.2 (2019): 36-39.
Huculak, J. Matthew. The ethics of walking away: A Discussion of Ursula Le Guin’s “the ones who walk away from Omelas.” 2019, Web.
Jones, Sarah. “Ursula K. Le Guin’s Revolutions.” Dissent, 2019, Web.
Le Guin, Ursula K. “The ones who walk away from Omelas”(1973).” The Wind’s Twelve Quarters (2018): 275-84.
Rozell, Daniel J. “The ethical foundations of risk analysis.” Risk Analysis, vol. 38, no. 8, Wiley-Blackwell, 2018, pp. 1529–33. Web.
Smart, J. J. C. “Utilitarianism and its applications.” New directions in Ethics. Routledge, 2020. 24-41.