"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula Le Guin

     In the story "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas", Ursula Le Guin describes the inner workings surface-level ideal society through her use of situational irony, the serene setting and society members to shed light on her message that questioning and personal beliefs is the fundamental basis to society. 

     After describing the jovial festival occuring within Omelas, Le Guin then illuminates the brutish, more savage part of the society. Under the city, a child is kept in a room with no windows or light, where occasionally "the food and water jug are hastily filled, the door is locked, the eyes disappear"(5). The child is kept captive and treated like an animal to exemplify the beauty of Omelas to the people and to act as a reminder for the basis of their happy lives. This situational irony proves Le Guin's purpose due to how rather than standing up for the injustices that are performed to the child, the citizens become numb to the pain and accept the child's suffering as a part of their culture. Similarly, Omelas is set in an obsolete location, on the ocean and surrounded by a wall of protecting mountains. This assists in portraying the message of the author because although the location is more than ideal, it cannot prevent the atrocities that occur in every society unless the people rise up to make a change. Lastly, Le Guin contrasts the bystanders in society to the ones who after seeing the child, "keep walking, and walk straight out of Omelas...they walk ahead into the darkness, and they do not come back" (7).  This contradiction is representative of how society, when not questioned, will become inhuman and naive. The author emphasizes the necessity to "walk ahead" in order to progress society.