It is not loved, it is barely fed, it is afraid of the dirty mops in its nasty room, it is occasionally kicked. "Omelas sounds in my words like a city in a fairy tale, long ago and far away, once upon a time," Le Guin writes.īut there is one catch: Omelas exists as it does because one child is locked up in a basement room, suffering. There is music, there is joy, everywhere there is happiness. In the story, the breathtaking seaside city of Omelas is celebrating its summer festival. So short it can be read in 15 minutes, the story is both so clear it can be understood by a 9-year-old and so deep and wrenching entire college papers are written on it. One of Le Guin's works taught in many schools is her 1973 story, "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas." (Omelas, reportedly, was a twist on Oregon's capital city of Salem, spelled backward and with an O added.) Le Guin, who was beautifully, brilliantly, sublimely crazy. "What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy?" - Ursula K.
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