Where Did “The Ones Who Walked Away From Omelas” Go? Omelas Above and Beyond

Abstract

“Utopia” is a term for an imaginary place in which everything is perfect, symbolizing peoples hopes and dreams in an “ideal life”. For so long, human beings have imagined worlds that are heaven-like, free of all negative aspects of real life. But, there is this term called “dystopia” which contradicts utopia and all the elements that it has. Dystopia is an unreal society or state where there is great agony, injustice, and discomfort. In literature, many of the authors have used utopic and dystopic elements while writing their works and one of them is Ursula K. Le Guin. In her short philosophical fiction “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”, Ursula uses both of the elements. Although critics say that this work can be classified as neither utopia nor dystopia, it includes utopic society based upon dystopic events which can be associated with real life happenings.