Previous
Literary Devices
Definition of Allegory
An allegory is a work that conveys a hidden meaning—usually moral, spiritual, or political—through the use of symbolic characters and events. The story of "The Tortoise and The Hare" is... read full definition
An allegory is a work that conveys a hidden meaning—usually moral, spiritual, or political—through the use of symbolic characters and events. The story of "The... read full definition
An allegory is a work that conveys a hidden meaning—usually moral, spiritual, or political—through the use of symbolic characters and... read full definition
Allegory
Explanation and Analysis—Just One Child:
“The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” revolves around a central allegory that points out the way society compels some people to suffer so that others can live happily. The city of Omelas is a utopia where everyone lives peacefully together. However, the source of their happiness depends on the perpetual suffering of a single child, who lives alone in filth and misery. The city represents an ideal society, and the suffering child represents a “necessary” sacrifice that makes the citizens' happiness possible. This child's plight is an allegorical device. It’s forced to be a scapegoat through no fault of its own and represents the injustice faced by those who suffer for the benefit of a majority. The story directly questions the morality of any happiness that rests on the suffering of others.
The narrative contrasts the exuberance of the Festival of Summer with the deplorable state of the imprisoned child to show how people are willing to ignore the unpleasant realities of injustice. This contrast prompts the reader to reflect on real-life instances in which the comfort of the privileged depends on the distress of the underprivileged.
The existence of the scapegoat child is common knowledge among adults and is only hidden from other children in Omelas. When it is time for children to come of age, they are brought to see the suffering child. Although they are usually horrified by the sight, most of the adolescents who see the child come to accept that the child's suffering is necessary. The citizens of Omelas who choose to stay after seeing the child accept the conditions it’s forced to live in as a necessary foundation of their societal structure. In contrast, those who choose to leave Omelas and walk into “the darkness” reject the terms of this complicit happiness. Their departure represents the decision to reject a system that relies on the misery of an innocent person for the happiness of everyone else.
Notably, Le Guin’s narrator doesn't explicitly praise or criticize the choices of the citizens, whether they stay or go. Instead, the dispassionate way they discuss staying and leaving Omelas invites readers to contemplate the conditions under which they accept their own wellbeing. The choice of the citizens to either stay and be complicit or leave and face the unknown prompts the reader to consider the values that underpin their own society and the extent to which they turn a blind eye to injustice. After all, it's not uncommon for powerful governments to exploit disenfranchised or underprivileged people in order to create a higher quality of life for the rest of the population.
The story's primary allegory, then, can be read in multiple different ways—as a critique of capitalist societies that exploit underpaid laborers, as a critique of authoritarian regimes, or as a broader critique of complacent middle-class populations who purposefully ignore inequality in order to go about their own comfortable lives. And yet, at the same time, the story also leaves room for readers to view the matter in a more utilitarian light, reasoning that suffering is inevitable and that, in some cases, it might be admissible to accept an isolated instance of injustice if it means decreasing the total amount of suffering in society.
Related Themes:
