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Portfolio I.B: The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas
Here is a .pdf copy of "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas"
Read Ursula K. LeGuin's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas," available at any of the links below:
http://www.angelfire.com/tx/johncleese/leguin.html
http://lavka.cityonline.ru/text/hugo/Omelas_.htm
http://www.geocities.com/su_englit/leguin_omelas.html
http://lavka.cityonline.ru/text/hugo/Omelas_.htm
If you lived in Omelas, would you be one of the "Ones who walk away from Omelas"? Or, would you stay? Why or why not? One of the issues this story considers is the conflict between the individual's rights, needs, and feelings, and the greatest good of the community -- the good of the whole. Most Utopian and Dystopian fiction, such as Brave New World and this story (as well as real-life attempts to create Utopias, such as Nazism), has this idea as a central theme: the sacrifice of the individual for the community as a whole. Is this the better good or at least the lesser evil? Why or why not?
Consider also the following thoughts from Lyman A. Baker:
"The principle of utility holds that that action is best which, if done, would result in the greatest balance of pleasure over pain for the greatest number of beings whose interest is in question. In democratic perspectives, the "beings whose interest in question" is generally taken to be "all human beings." The translation of this principle to the societal plane is that that social system is to be preferred (defended, sought, worked for) which, if realized, would result in the greatest happiness of the greatest number.
"One formulation of the principle of justice is that we should render onto each person what is his due. In democratic perspectives, each person is declared to possess these rights equally, and among these is the right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and treatment as an end rather than instrumentally, as a mere means to someone else's happiness (in the manner of slaves, lackeys, domestic animals, etc.)
"Are these principles consistent? Or do we have to choose between them? If we have to choose, which have (say) the Omelans opted for? Which have the People of the United States evidently chosen? Is this what they think they have chosen? If they were carefully to reflect, is this what they would choose? What sort of folks would they define themselves to be by the choice they do make? by the choice they would make? (Note that these can be the same or different, depending on your view of "us.")"
(From: http://www.ksu.edu/english/baker/english320/sg-LeGuin-OWWAfO.htm)
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