What an exciting beginning to my sophomore year at Georgetown! All my classes are extremely interesting, but one class in particular stands out: Intro to Ethics with Professor Earl.
In this class, we’ve begun to grapple with some ethical dilemmas from Ursula Le Guin’s short story, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”.
The story opens with Le Guin giving a vibrant description of the Omelas’ Festival of Summer. Throughout the city, various processions “wound towards the north side of the city” (1). Some were simple with muted colors and some were exciting with music and dancing. At the end of all the processions, the townspeople gathered to watch the horses race. This festival represented the joy and the happiness that the town felt on a daily basis.
According to the omniscient narrator, the people of Omelas are not “dulcet shepherds, noble savages, bland utopians” (1), they were …show more content…
Although never fully explained to the reader, an agreement binds the town to keep the the child locked away in a cellar. Not only do they lock him away, but also they abuse him neglecting him. When the child gets food, there are always others around the door to see the child like a tourist sees an animal in a zoo. These viewings often draw visceral reactions from the onlookers and most go home disgusted with what they had seen. Most chose stay in the city of Omelas. However, some get up and walk away from Omelas -- which is where the title comes from.
Those who walk away can be viewed as more courageous and morally upright than the citizens because they are refusing to be part of a society that abuses a child’s rights for the sake of the town’s happiness. However, this is a ruse -- the ones who walk away are no more morally upstanding than the ones who stay. The ones who stay are “content merely to know it is there” (3), while the ones who leave are content with their lives outside of
In this class, we’ve begun to grapple with some ethical dilemmas from Ursula Le Guin’s short story, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”.
The story opens with Le Guin giving a vibrant description of the Omelas’ Festival of Summer. Throughout the city, various processions “wound towards the north side of the city” (1). Some were simple with muted colors and some were exciting with music and dancing. At the end of all the processions, the townspeople gathered to watch the horses race. This festival represented the joy and the happiness that the town felt on a daily basis.
According to the omniscient narrator, the people of Omelas are not “dulcet shepherds, noble savages, bland utopians” (1), they were …show more content…
Although never fully explained to the reader, an agreement binds the town to keep the the child locked away in a cellar. Not only do they lock him away, but also they abuse him neglecting him. When the child gets food, there are always others around the door to see the child like a tourist sees an animal in a zoo. These viewings often draw visceral reactions from the onlookers and most go home disgusted with what they had seen. Most chose stay in the city of Omelas. However, some get up and walk away from Omelas -- which is where the title comes from.
Those who walk away can be viewed as more courageous and morally upright than the citizens because they are refusing to be part of a society that abuses a child’s rights for the sake of the town’s happiness. However, this is a ruse -- the ones who walk away are no more morally upstanding than the ones who stay. The ones who stay are “content merely to know it is there” (3), while the ones who leave are content with their lives outside of