2. Although the people of Omelas are fully aware of the child's suffering, those who remain in Omelas don't seem to feel any guilt. In fact, Le Guin reinforces this in her story. Do you think it's possible to constantly feel guilty about the misery of others? Please explain and provide examples.
From a young age we are all protected from anything and everything that others find harmful in the world; however what we are never protected from is ourselves. The emotions that creep through the walls, the thoughts that haunt us and our actions when placed in certain situations are not guarded; protected or safe.
The question that's being asked is is it possible to constantly feel guilty about the misery of others? We all have are own opinions, thoughts, and what we feel is either right or wrong. Would it be wrong of me to say no? It is not possible to constantly feel guilty about the misery of others. It's true we've all felt "in the wrong" at one point, but that feeling went away didn't it? Guilt has crept through the cracks in every one of our walls, yet we still seem to go on with our daily routines because we're only affected for a certain period of time. For our brain to play on one emotion constantly we would have to only have that emotion and not any other. I don't believe someone can have everlasting happiness, because any circumstance can switch that feeling in an instant. It's as though we're playing with a light switch and light can turn into dark with the flick of the switch. So how is it imaginable to carry guilt around with us, when it isn't even possible to always carry happiness?
Whenever I witness a person without a home, or a child on television from a third world country starving to death guilt begins to creep in; the walls that hold all my emotions begin to crack. It's only for that second though, or the couple minutes the commercial was on and then it all goes away. I begin to just go about what I was doing before. Does that make me a bad person to flip the channel? Or just keep walking passed the homeless? I don't believe so. If every person always felt guilty because of someone else's suffering than how is it more people aren't doing anything to help? Although I do feel guilt, I don't believe it lasts long because I've come to grips with it. I think we all just come to accept the guilt, and know that there are people in this world living miserably while others are not. Should they be punished with the constant feeling of guilt because they aren't hurting?
Ursula K Le Guin wrote in “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” "to throw away the happiness of thousands for the chance of happiness of one: that would be to let guilt with the walls indeed." There was no guilt in Omelas and if we were to compare that to our society I would say that guilt comes and goes. Just like how the people came and left in Omelas, each alone. Guilt is an emotion we feel alone, and I believe it's different for everyone. Some feel guilty when seeing the homeless knowing that they don’t have a home to go to, others feel guilty when asking their parents for money. It varies depending on the individual but the time period someone feels guilty I never believe is constant.
It's human nature to have our mind wander, so constantly feeling one emotion isn't likely. We accept it and move on, we get wrapped up in other thoughts that we forget what we were feeling in the first place, or we come across a different situation that makes us feel a different emotion. When it comes down to it we are protected by our walls and feelings such as guilt can only peer through for a matter of time. Hey most things are temporary right?!
Hi Tisha,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great response! I'm glad you chose to address question #2 - it is a tough one that few students have attempted so far. Moreover, you managed to stay close to Le Guin's text (even citing it directly!) while expanding your analysis to incorporate useful real-life examples.
I liked your comparison between the reactions in Omelas toward the abused child and our (often temporary) reactions of guilt toward the homeless and the starving people in our city and around the world. Your response highlights something very important: guilt is largely a feeling we experience individually. The flip-side of this is, of course, that we tend to enjoy the elements of utopia in our world WITH OTHERS! The people in Omelas enjoy the utopia as a community (e.g. - the festival, etc.), but walk away from the town alone (accompanied only by guilt).
Perhaps it is because of our individualistic experiences of guilt that we force ourselves to forget about the horrors of famine (for example), because we are unable to to anything about it on our own. This is especially true in Le Guin's world, in which the suffering of the child is at the centre of the utopia's structure: the problem is beyond the individual level. So, we are often paralyzed by our individual experiences of guilt. However, is it possible that guilt felt as a collective (as a group) could be more productive and more helpful in terms of solving the problems that bother us? As a group, could we remind each other of ongoing problems as to not loose sight of them? What about people who form humanitarian or environmental organizations: is the a way in which they use collective guilt to their advantage?
Good work!
- Patrick