K. Le Guin's 'The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas'
Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” is about the justification of exploitation. David L . Porter believes the story comments on the dependence of modern day societies operation on misfortune as a lack of morality. Conversely, both Sarah Wyman and Jerre Collins feel the story addresses the ethical predicament that people of modern society face. Barbara Bennett believes its primary purpose is to reveal the exploitative activities that modern society actively participates in. Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” suggests humans will promote the rationalization of exploitation in order to preserve their luxurious lifestyle.
Ursula K. Le Guin was born in 1929 and raised in Berkeley, California. Her father
was an anthropologist and mother a writer. In “The Politics of Le Guin’s Opus,” critic David L. Porter states, “Le Guin’s perspective seems to have evolved from a more individualized existentialist orientation and anthropological concern in the mid-1960s to an embrace of Taoism” (243). This was also a time period where feminism and the African-American civil rights movement were actively taking place. These events influenced her writing of the “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.” However, she credits the story to William James who raised the idea of scapegoating in American culture. William James had faith in humanity’s morality, hence he believed humans would never victimize one for the joy of the rest. Nonetheless, after reading William James “The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life,” Le Guin was influenced to write a story contradicting the very words of James. In the end, Le Guin is referencing to the moral illusions which exist in modern society, hence insinuating to read the story in a political perspective.
Ursula K. Le Guin was born in 1929 and raised in Berkeley, California. Her father
was an anthropologist and mother a writer. In “The Politics of Le Guin’s Opus,” critic David L. Porter states, “Le Guin’s perspective seems to have evolved from a more individualized existentialist orientation and anthropological concern in the mid-1960s to an embrace of Taoism” (243). This was also a time period where feminism and the African-American civil rights movement were actively taking place. These events influenced her writing of the “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.” However, she credits the story to William James who raised the idea of scapegoating in American culture. William James had faith in humanity’s morality, hence he believed humans would never victimize one for the joy of the rest. Nonetheless, after reading William James “The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life,” Le Guin was influenced to write a story contradicting the very words of James. In the end, Le Guin is referencing to the moral illusions which exist in modern society, hence insinuating to read the story in a political perspective.