There would have to be some people staying in Omelas, who themselves are torn by the choice we are presented: to allow a child to suffer so that many can find happiness/peace/contentment/whatever or to leave and not be a part of this (although the child will still most likely suffer). So does this mean that anyone who stays in Omelas is a terrible person since they have witnessed this child suffer but now no longer care and can go on leading happy and content lives? Now I understand that people can disassociate themselves from such knowledge and use whatever other means to push this knowledge away and stay in Omelas, but the narrator goes to great lengths explaining that these people are not stupid that they are just genuinely happy. The people who stay have seen the horrors this child must suffer for them and they feel upset by this but somehow can then go back to a happy content life in Omelas.
Now after being enlightened to this knowledge, most people decide to stay in Omelas and others choose to leave. but anyway back to the original point I was attempting to make.Įverybody in Omelas is aware at some point of the suffering child, and they are aware that the suffering this child endures allows everybody in Omelas to live their happy/content lives. Do they know how truly bad the world can be? In that sense, it is almost selfish to walk away - to ease your own guilt, rather than actually easing anyone's suffering.Īgain, this is what makes me wonder what the walkers expect.
At least in Omelas, you know it's only one child who suffers, rather than knowing it is many. By supporting the "other" society, I'd be supporting many more people's suffering. I'd like to think I'd walk away, but the more I think about it, the less sure I am. Do they think it will be less pleasant, but that they will feel happier on the whole because they don't have to live with the image of the child's suffering? Do they think they will be less happy, but they're prepared to live with suffering themselves rather than knowing they're the cause of someone else's suffering? It's a subtle distinction though, I'll admit! I think the people who walk away from Omelas are coming to our everyday world, (where things are less pleasant overall), but I wonder what they expect to find. If I get chance tomorrow, I'll see if I can track down a copy of the intro. I read the version in Brave New Worlds (which has a whole BUNCH of excellent dystopian/utopian stories - they've all been really excellent). I haven't read that introduction, but would love to have a look.