The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

by Ursula K. Le Guin

32 pages

English language

Published Oct. 4, 1993 by Creative Education.

ISBN:: 978-0-88682-501-0

View on OpenLibrary

(68 reviews)

Some inhabitants of a peaceful kingdom cannot tolerate the act of cruelty that underlies its happiness.

3 editions

Rapaz reviewed The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin

de verdad necesito un títulto?

No rating

Content warning here be spoilers

me ha gustado mucho. ya conocía el relato de antes, y ahora tengo la impresión de que demasiada gente lo interpreta de una forma demasiado literal. y me ha llamado mucho más la atención cómo enhebra la actitud elitista de que sólo el mal es complejo e interesante con el tema (más abstracto y universal) de la aceptación del mal como algo inevitable, inherente al mundo e incluso necesario. lo que revela en realidad el final del relato es que Omelas necesita el sufrimiento, lo acepta de forma implícita y lo crea de forma activa. ¿sobre qué base defenderíamos si no nuestra falta de culpa, nuestra superioridad, dónde estaría el baremo mínimo de miseria que nos permite afirmar que nuestra situación es feliz? y es por eso que aquellos que abandonan Omelas no saben a dónde van

BrittReads reviewed The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin

Challenging

5 stars

A fascinating short story, or maybe just a thought rather than a story? Are things more believable when they're unhappy? What if we just walk away?

Books That Burn reviewed The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin

Review of "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas: A Story (A Wind's Twelve Quarters Story)" on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

THE ONES WHO WALK AWAY FROM OMELAS is a brief story of complicity and abuse in a city where most have decided that the happiness of many is worth the abject misery of one.

<spoiler>This story is short with a simple but heartbreaking premise: that the happiness of an entire city depends on the abuse and misery of a small child, where the justification for the child's mistreatment is that its low intelligence and the abuse it has undergone until this point mean it wouldn't even know what to do if it were freed. Anyone who stays in the city past a certain age where they are shown the child does so with the knowledge that everything good for them is dependent on this child suffering. It's brief and well worth reading.

For me one of the most interesting parts of the story is the way that the abuse until the point is used to justify further abuse. The idea that only by thinking about one child suffering can these people be kind to the other children, and that now that the child has been abused they may as well stay that way because rescue and rehabilitation would be difficult and might never fully work... it's unfortunately (and clearly purposefully) close to the attitudes that are used in the real world to justify a whole host of ills. </spoiler>

RXN12 reviewed The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin

Review of 'The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

The most powerful short story I've read this year. This story perfectly encapsulates what could best be described as utilitarianism. You know, the political theory built on the premise of highest good for the greatest number of people. Just goes to show the paradoxical nature of the theory and I'd go as far as to say that it's an allegory on today's vastly unequal society. Highly descriptive, heavily detailed, not overly dramatic, and just the right kind of suspence. The greatest tale under 10 pages.