Scan barcode
lethargicbat's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Excrement, Kidnapping, and Abandonment
Minor: Sexual content and Alcohol
latibluee's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
beautifully haunting
the type of story that will nestle itself in your mind and you will keep idly thinking about it days, weeks, maybe even months or years after you've read it - even though it is only 5 pages long (or maybe partly due to that fact?)
the type of story that will nestle itself in your mind and you will keep idly thinking about it days, weeks, maybe even months or years after you've read it - even though it is only 5 pages long (or maybe partly due to that fact?)
The trouble is that we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of considering happiness as something rather stupid. Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting. This is the treason of the artist: a refusal to admit the banality of evil and the terrible boredom of pain.
We have almost lost hold; we can no longer describe a happy man, nor make any celebration of joy. How can I tell you about the people of Omelas? They were not naive and happy children – though their children were, in fact, happy. They were mature, intelligent, passionate adults whose lives were not wretched. O miracle! but I wish I could describe it better.
The joy built upon successful slaughter is not the right kind of joy; it will not do; it is fearful and it is trivial. A boundless and generous contentment, a magnanimous triumph felt not against some outer enemy but in communion with the finest and fairest in the souls of all men everywhere and the splendor of the world’s summer; this is what swells the hearts of the people of Omelas, and the victory they celebrate is that of life.
Yet it is their tears and anger, the trying of their generosity and the acceptance of their helplessness, which are perhaps the true source of the splendor of their lives. Theirs is no vapid, irresponsible happiness.
At times one of the adolescent girls or boys who go to see the child does not go home to weep or rage, does not, in fact, go home at all. Sometimes also a man or woman much older falls silent for a day or two, and then leaves home. These people go out into the street, and walk down the street alone. They keep walking, and walk straight out of the city of Omelas, through the beautiful gates. [...] Each alone, they go west or north, towards the mountains. They go on. They leave Omelas, they walk ahead into the darkness, and they do not come back. The place they go towards is a place even less imaginable to most of us than the city of happiness. I cannot describe it at all. It is possible that it does not exist. But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Confinement
Minor: Sexual content, Excrement, and Alcohol
kedepokan's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Torture
Moderate: Child abuse and Abandonment
Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, Physical abuse, and Alcohol
hoiyan's review against another edition
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
“Omelas already exists; no need to build it or choose it. We already live here—in the narrow, foul, dark prison we let our ignorance, fear, and hatred build for us and keep us in, here in the splendid, beautiful city of life.”
one of the many discussions and takes on the moral dilemma behind living and thriving at the expense of others' (specifically a child's) suffering. Le Guin explicitly writes with the set 'rule' of the child's suffering being directly accountable for the freedom of Omelas (which in turn, is linked to its downfall).
a very upsetting and haunting dilemma. it's built up to not have a right answer, or any answer.
not only did Le Guin present two options—help the child which would lead to the mass suffering of the whole population, or leave the child alone to suffer and enjoy your freedom in this utopia-esque world within Omelas—but also presented a third option: walking away from Omelas.
“They go on. They leave Omelas, they walk ahead into the darkness, and they do not come back. The place they go towards is a place even less imaginable to most of us than the city of happiness. I cannot describe it at all. It is possible that it does not exist. But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas."
we're given no explicit description or any indicators on what is outside of Omelas, and leave us with more conflicts to work through: saving the child and thus causing mass suffering, leaving the child to suffer and live your happy life, or turning away away from both the child in need of saving, and the utopia world of Omelas.
one of the many discussions and takes on the moral dilemma behind living and thriving at the expense of others' (specifically a child's) suffering. Le Guin explicitly writes with the set 'rule' of the child's suffering being directly accountable for the freedom of Omelas (which in turn, is linked to its downfall).
a very upsetting and haunting dilemma. it's built up to not have a right answer, or any answer.
not only did Le Guin present two options—help the child which would lead to the mass suffering of the whole population, or leave the child alone to suffer and enjoy your freedom in this utopia-esque world within Omelas—but also presented a third option: walking away from Omelas.
“They go on. They leave Omelas, they walk ahead into the darkness, and they do not come back. The place they go towards is a place even less imaginable to most of us than the city of happiness. I cannot describe it at all. It is possible that it does not exist. But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas."
we're given no explicit description or any indicators on what is outside of Omelas, and leave us with more conflicts to work through: saving the child and thus causing mass suffering, leaving the child to suffer and live your happy life, or turning away away from both the child in need of saving, and the utopia world of Omelas.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse and Emotional abuse
Minor: Drug use, Excrement, and Alcohol