The ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

Aspen Burton

English 1302

Professor Decker

02.04.18

Essay 1 Topic #2

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas is a story about a Utopian city whose happiness is solely based around the suffering of one young boy. They feel as if their happiness would be jeopardized if they were to try to save him so instead they decided to leave the city of Utopian and try to forget about the little boy.  This story can be applied to the real world in so many different ways.

For example, child labor in the fashion industry has been an ongoing issue for decades. Most people do not realize it but all of the clothing items that you own in your closet are all traced back to child labor. Child labor is prevalent in countries like India. Young teens are forced to work in garment factories and fields with little to no pay just so that we can are to wear and shop at  some of our favorite clothing brands/stores. “Children working on a cottonseed farm in Gujarat, India, receives less than 75 cents a day. They may work up to 12 hours a day in “extreme temperatures.” Reports of child labor in Uzbekistan, India, China and Egypt are also found “on a disturbingly large scale,” according to World Vision. 

This connects to the story, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, because the little boy is also all of those young children who are working in garment factories. They are considered a pariah or they feel sad, unappreciated, left out, etc.

 In the story of Omelas, they would rather the little boy suffer so that their city is filled with happiness even though they knew what as happening to him wasn’t right. Child labor will forever be an issue if no one will speak up and fight for those children who were and still are suffering.