In the story "Those Who Move Away from Omelas", it is about a society of people where everything is a question of happiness and contentment . This imaginary society is so perfect but yet everything is based on the torment of a child who is considered ugly by their society. Without his presence, the people of Omelas can live days of infinite happiness. The child in the story is used as a symbol carrying a strong message to make us understand that in today's society, people care above all about their own happiness even if it includes the unhappiness of others. others. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Throughout the story, the symbolic use of the scapegoat is to make the reader aware of what society is like today. The fact that children are sacrificed to maintain the happiness of the community shows the terrible reality of the society of which we are a part. Le Quin was inspired by the statement “One could not accept happiness shared with millions if the condition of that happiness were the suffering of a solitary soul” (James). How can people be happy while others are suffering? In our society this would be considered the old philosophy of “survival of the fittest”. Most of the time we become aware of injustice, but there is little we can do about it. We could probably just think about it and feel bad, but very little is done to change that. Those who attempt to bring about change are rebuffed by their own society. Le Guin wrote that her story exposes "the dilemma of the American conscience", she was probably thinking specifically of the real situation of the American economic system. When it comes to rich people, they are the ones who get the most profit within this economic system. For example, the rich make about a million times more money than most of their employees. This may lead to the conclusion that the less wealthy are those who often share less than Americans and attend poorer schools than the average upper-class American due to the economic structure established for rich and poor. The message in the story demonstrates that Omelas' society is no different from the one we live in now. Le Guin's mission in this short story was "less to imagine alien cultures than to explore humanity" (Gioia 208). This means that it has created a false society that shares the cruel rationality of ours. Even though they don't have many resources, they still manage to maintain an ugly attitude towards this "mission" of creating a perfect, stress-free, happy society, at the cost of enslaving a young child in a room dark. Le Guin's message is clear and simple: no matter how far we go to create a perfect society, it will always have an ugly side. Being a white woman writing in the modern United States, she might be seriously aware of the racial discrimination surrounding her. On the other hand, African Americans left under completely opposite conditions. Black Americans have often faced discrimination throughout American history. Poverty and imprisonment of African Americans are overwhelmingly higher than those of white Americans. “While America has been a utopian land of plenty for many wealthy whites, it has been a world of hurt for many African Americans who have been murdered, lynched, discriminated against, or excluded from America's the middle class. » (Hill). This is areal situation in our society where “the moral responsibility of a society for which the happiness of the majority rests on the abject misery of a powerless minority” (Sobeloff). This is how our society works. There are many people who just accept society as it is, with injustice it doesn't matter to them as long as they are happy. In history we have a clear example of how selfish and cruel those in society can be when it comes to their own fortunes. They would not want to change their situation because it would mean the end of their own happiness. As we progress through this story, we begin to realize that if this miserable child receives such horrible treatment at the hands of Omelas, it would mean that all other children could meet the same fate. It's as if this child is the black sheep of a family made to be perfect, without any flaws. We can look at this child in the story, look in the mirror, and wonder what society is trying to get out of this. Some of us might be the most successful in life or follow the wrong path leading to our self-destruction. In the end it won't matter, because if society thinks you're poison to it, then you might as well join that young boy in that dark room to spend your days simply satisfying some needs of society. If this is what it comes down to, then for some of us who feel ugly and useless in a brutal society, we will find ourselves in a dark room in our world. The point of the story is not only to show how society has become so brutalized in its attempt to be perfect, but it shows us that it is not necessary to achieve perfection for society to be stable. From the moment we are born, we think we live in a perfect world filled with joy by our parents. However, as we grow up, this joy created by our parents in this "perfect" world we are supposed to live in is suddenly crushed when society's true colors begin to show. This would create some confusion for the young girl/boy who thought this world was a perfect place to live in, which is not the case now. After a long time being revealed to the reality in which we live, these young boys and girls begin to accept society for themselves and go with the flow. As hard as it is to believe, when you really look at it, perhaps a sense of corruption is necessary to balance the good and bad in life. If this world were so perfect, then it would be just as destructive as a living world. a society filled with corruption. The reason I say this is that it would become a bigger problem to prevent any defects from entering this world. The boy in this story is a great example of what we would sacrifice to maintain a pure and perfect society. Le Guin describes the boy as “…feeble-minded.” Perhaps he was born defective, or perhaps he became a fool through fear, malnutrition, and neglect” (Gioia 211). A place like Omelas, which would sacrifice children and lock them away never to see the outside just to maintain a "joyful and pure" atmosphere, is a place that should never exist. This sense of urgency to create a society based solely on the good side of life is all well and good, but when you have to sacrifice a human being, let alone a child, just to make sure they don't there are no imperfections in this area, society is simply inhumane. We can fight this all we want, but ultimately, the thirst for perfection will always appear, even if we don't want it..20)