Reactions: Write a paragraph about what other people said in seminar and your reaction to their comments/questions.
One of the strongest reactions I probably had to this seminar was that, well the majority of my peers in my seminar group agreed that the citizens of Omelas were happy. I felt, in relation to the Buddhist definition of happiness that all that the people of Omelas were feeling was pure pleasure, drugs, and sex, whatever happened to happiness being this.
“Aware that true happiness is rooted in peace, solidity, freedom, and compassion, and not in wealth or fame, we are determined not to take as the aim of our life fame, profit, wealth, or sensual pleasure, nor to accumulate wealth while millions are hungry and dying.” (The Fifth Mindfulness Training, Interbeing, Being Peace, Thich Nhat Hanh)
Not only did I think the city of Omelas wasn't happy but I thought the very unrecognizable of its pure pleasure was, undeniably disappointing. The city of Omelas was just a city of pleasure a settlement based of drugs, sex, and pleasure. I'll relate it back to, Brave New World by: Aldus Huxley, in a way these two worlds are both very similar, the Brave New World scenario might be a bit more hegemonic, but I digress, they both instead of providing true happiness gave an infinite amount of pleasure to suffice Soma or Drooz, pick your poison, and choose your pleasure. I found nothing in this short lived conversation of the topic of Pleasure vs. Happiness, but I did find that Omelas is not only a mirror image of our world, if is both clearer but also many hidden meanings in the dark alleys of the city of Omelas.
During the seminar what I saw is that so many people agreed that their consumerism makes them happy, but the last seminar the majority agreed that Happiness and Pleasure are two different things. Yet not a week later, have they forgotten or is consumerism and McWorld so seductive that we truly have lost the meaning of true happiness the twist and turns of the modern era. With the question, we can no longer describe happiness. We don’t know what happiness is anymore? I was shocked that so many people admitted that we are no longer happy because we haven’t had to face as many struggles.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” (Declaration in Independence, Thomas Jefferson)
We are graciously given the gift to pursue our own happiness however we desire to find it, many will go different paths but it seems to me that with Omelas people only try to find happiness through pleasure, with this truly is a metaphor for our own world, is this how the western world has devolved into a hedonistic world were the ultimate goal in life is pleasure. A new era with new standards, but with the same mindset, is this possible? Can one gain pleasure from, technology without feeling guilty?
Detailed Response: Choose one of the major questions from the seminar to write about (if you are also doing the seminar make up, choose a different question than the ones you respond to in the makeup). Major questions are listed above. Write two solid paragraphs in response to the question. You should definitely be quoting the text, and setting up your quotes correctly! (Challenge: do a little outside research to further your understanding.)
Is it more moral to stay in Omelas, or to walk away? Why?
The debate of morality has many fronts; here I guess I will try to defend the view in which I hold in this never ending debate. I will start with saying that the people who stay in a way, it is not of their own doing, they were forced there, just like the child they are not free.
"Their tears at the bitter injustice dry when they begin to perceive the terrible justice of reality, and to accept it. 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. They know that they, like the child, are not free." (Lines 146-149, Paragraph 12, the Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, Ursula K. LeGuin)
So is it moral to stay in Omelas? Well the people who stay and, have seen the injustices done to this child, certainly at the time were quite concerned. Is the imprisonment of the child justice, well with the right mindset one can see it that way? Is morality just judged on the society? By our standards this is not moral, it is horrible, but it is not immoral, well by their standards at least.
"They were not barbarians. I do not know the rules and laws of their society, but I suspect that they were singularly few. As they did without monarchy and slavery, so they also got on without the stock exchange, the advertisement, the secret police, and the bomb. Yet I repeat that these were not simple folk, not dulcet shepherds, noble savages, bland utopians. They were not less complex than us." (Lines 27-32, Paragraph 3, the Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, Ursula K. LeGuin)
They had few rules and laws, but were their city rampant with murder and crime; well she didn't describe it as so. But by the definition of the standards of Omelas no one is immoral, I'm not even sure if the city has a meaning of morality in general. I don't think that either of the people who stay or leave is moral, or immoral, it is a paradox, the one who leaves is more moral by heart, but the one who stays is more moral by practice and mind. That wasn't the best worded theory but I will try to explain. I'll start with the people that leave to show how they are moral.
"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." (Lines 158-160, Paragraph 14, the Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, Ursula K. LeGuin)
Both the people who stay and those that leave are the same. They are acting not the help or cause change, but they just want to live. The ones that leave, so they can have their guilt, since it isn't allowed inside the walls, those who stay forget about it and live their lives of endless pleasure. They are in a sense amoral, they do not care for the child but they do care for their own well being, those that leave need to feel guilt, the ones that stay just need to forget and lose themselves in the sex and the drugs. They are not achieving anything for other people and only for themselves so none of their decisions are moral, they are amoral, and there is no sense of morality in Omelas, which could be why it is such a happy town.
Connections: Identify and explain a connection to one of the following...
Other topics and texts you’ve studied (this year or last)
News article or current event
Historical event or figure
Movie, TV show, or song
Work of art
Personal experience you’ve had
I found this as sense in a way it was a metaphor to our own world I compared it to the activity in which we were third world countries attempting to gain factories to increase our countries prestige, (Mainly money, and industrial prowess.) When doing the Transnational Auction, my group won, luckily but it was a balancing act of how cruel we could be and how much money and pleasure we could gain for ourselves. With the incentive of a bag of Oreos our sense of right and wrong disappeared with a goal of cookie pleasure in sight, we stripped our people of their innate human rights and, gave them nothing for their troubles but we gained a life of leisure.
Questions and Answer (3 questions, 1 short paragraph). Write 3 questions you have about the topics, text, or author. Then choose one question and try to answer it in a short paragraph. Use internet research, discussion, or your own deep thoughts to formulate your answer.
My first question on the text was where to do the ones who leave Omelas go when they leave, the description in the short story, first of all is only a paragraph where books could be written on where they go. But I think she did that for a reason, it was left abstract and open to interpretation for a reason, and no it wasn’t because the writer was lazy, it is to encourage thought among the readers, and both unfortunately and fortunately it has. There are so many places in which they could have gone, are they monks living in the mountains, a civilization in a distant land preparing to liberate those which have been oppressed for so long, or just people living in denial and acceptance of the unfortunate truth. I will also have to question this quote here.
“But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.” (Line 169, Paragraph 14, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, Ursula K. LeGuin)
So we know that they know where they are going. From that I can assume they are either all going to the same place, or that they all have a common goal in mind, whether it be living in the mountains being a hermit and peaceful or raising a resistance. Another concept I would like to point out is the fact that guilt is not allowed in the walls of Omelas. (Still wondering why there all walls for a city that is all about pleasure, peace, and well not focusing on war.)
“To exchange all the goodness and grace of every life in Omelas for that single, small improvement: to throw away the happiness of thousands for the chance of the happiness of one: that would be to let guilt within the walls indeed.” (Lines 135-137, Paragraph 10, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, Ursula K. LeGuin)
So since this is a fantasy story in way, well fictional at least there might be some magical barrier which, either forces those who have guilt out of the society, or it might be that one cannot feel guilt inside the city walls and those that leave to feel guilt. Now I doubt it was intended to be perceived as magical but there are most defiantly a force keep people happy inside the bubble and those outside, free to feel life in it wholeness. Now I feel I adequately answered that question, if not confusing myself more in the process.
Another question I had after both reading the text as well as participating in the seminar, was one that I would love to try to answer but I know it will never happen. Does one feel guilt when purchasing a product of technology for their own pleasure, causing pleasure for you, bat at the same time being the suffering of the workers in the third world countries? For me I understand it, maybe not all the time but I know that just about everything I purchase is causing harm in one way or another. For me I just try not to think about it, and continue on even though I am causing an unfeasible amount of pain and grief worldwide.
Finally I sadly do not have a genuinely thought provoking question, or at least I thought so cause I answered it in very little effort but here it is. Why do they keep the poor innocent child in containment? Is it to show the citizens of Omelas t show compassion and generosity to their fellow man accept of course the child? Or is this some weird cult, this seems to be a belief of evil. The answer for this was simple there was no reason, is there a true reason for us to have massive amounts of power and technology, our species will survive but if provides us with and uplifting pleasure. And they are not some weird cult, they are just people, caught in an odd, not even odd society but it is just a bad position to be in.
