It’s smeared with its own feces, covered with sores, and constantly afraid. Somewhere in the city is a closet where an emaciated child, referred to only as “it,” is locked up. Le Guin says if you can imagine an even better city than the one she describes, then think of that instead.
It’s as though we’re being shown a travel brochure for a place that seems too good to be true. Another symbol that reflects the slavery in this story would be the smelling rags and buckets next to the closet, which it is a reminder to the child of its role as a slave, and servant of this city.The story begins with an elaborate description of a summer festival in an exquisitely beautiful and happy city called Omelas. Moreover, the terrible and poor condition of this prison where the child lives, reflected how slaves lived back in the day. Where the son of a slave would have to become a slave as well and will never be freed. This child reflects the lives of many slaves in America and the world. The author offers to us, as readers, a contradiction that says: “… she did it without… the slavery”, but it does not reach the conclusion that the child is a servant of Omelas like a slave to his owner.Īll Utopia’s habitants are described as prosperous, equals and filled with joy, off course, excluding this poor child who is mistreated and confined in a tiny basement which is in horrible condition. This poor child symbolizes slavery in every way, because it does not have any liberty, it is a servant to all citizens of utopia so they could have a happy life. However, this poor child’s freedom is taken from it, just as slavery. There are no slaves in Utopia, as the author describes. “They know that they, like the child, are not free” the author writes, enlightening the reader that although the citizens live what it seems “free”, within their feelings and thoughts, they are not free. But what we see in our world or in this story, is that nobody is truly free. As human beings, we have always fought for freedom, it is encrypted in our D.N.A. The author describes that Omelas does not have any type of ruling system, no king or president, political system, technology or many things that engulf our society nowadays.
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