Firing Synapses in the Shifting Essay

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Now, while the setting may be in a constant state of flux (between the details the reader creates and the details the narrator gives the reader), there are certain aspects of the story that are concrete and critical to what Le Guin is asking the reader to do. One of those constants within this story is the caged boy mired in his on filth. Another is the almost shameless resignation the townsfolk have regarding the poor boy. These two points are integral to some of the philosophical questions the story posits, is the undeserved and intense suffering of one justified if it ensures the happiness of many? In what ways does our own reality reflect this dilemma? The ones that leave Omelas, why are they headed to an indescribable place?

To answer this questions completely would take pages and pages of text and prose and, intertextual analysis from many different authors and philosophers (James, Dostoyevsky, Le Guin, Kant, Locke, Mills, etc.). But in lieu of all the academic work required to fully answer those questions, let me conclude with one interpretation that comes to mind, the notion that we are all cracked vessels, we all live with a certain understanding that while we enjoy our lives there is someone, somewhere, needlessly suffering.

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And our plight in life is not so much a matter of self-determinism and hard work as it is a matter of the casual indifference of luck and misfortune. We're not any different than the boy in the cellar. We're just luckier. Lastly, one can leave this world if they want, just like one can leave Omelas, but then again, why would one want to? There are no guarantees about the afterlife.

The thesis of the essay was to examine how the setting works to engage the reader's imagination in way that invites participation. Not only does Le Guin succeed in doing this, but by doing this she forces the reader to think more philosophically about the plight of the reader's own world and the ways in which the reader copes with sin and injustice. Does the reader walk away (i.e. commit suicide via one interpretation) or does the reader acquiesce to the notion that for some of us to live peacefully, some of us must….....

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