Ethics and Morality in a Utopian Society
Mankind has longed to reach this synergistic belief of ‘perfection’ a place where, “boys
and girls, naked in the bright air, with mud-stained feet and ankles and long, little arms,
exercised their restive horses before the race. The horses wore no gear at all but a halter without
bit. Their manes were braided with streamers of silver, gold, and green” (Le Guin,1). Such a
utopian society exists in Omelas, where people can co-exist peacefully amongst nature’s
creatures without any prejudice. A pristine society where all of its inhabitants are constantly
content, however, there is one exception, an innocent child, that genderless, who is isolated and
condemned to a life of desolation. Le Guin creates a society that confines an adolescent child in a
small closet to live in complete darkness and in his own filth for the sake of providing a perfect
realm. This challenges an individual’s moral ideal that concern whether the suffering of one
individual is worth the greater good for thousand others. Turning this innocent child into the
conscience of its inhabitants leaving individuals to decide for themselves whether or not they
wish to live and abide by these terms or leave and never return relieving them from this
predicament.
An unknowing child sits in a restricted room with hardly any space surrounded by its
own excrement and is covered in sores. This child is described to be inside a small broom closet
in a basement that belongs to one of its magnificent buildings not to be hidden from society but
rather to keep the child away from society. Raised in complete darkness only to see the light of
day when those who reside in Omelas come to see this ill-fated child. Dumbfounded by the
inability to communicate and interact with people the child has lost the ability to speak at one
point the child used to cry out, ”Please let me out. I will be good!”, however, no one ever
answered causing the child to now only whimper (Le Guin, 3). The child however, oblivious to
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the fact that it is the sole reason that the city of Omelas is prosperous and flourishing in a
harmonious manner has become and imbecile due to the darkness and lack of human interaction
reducing it to a feebleminded creature. According to David Brooks in his article “The Child In
The Basement.”, “You can’t justifiably use a human being as an object. It is wrong to enslave a
person, even if that slavery might produce a large good.”, as he explains the fact that regardless
of the means this odes not justify the actions the people of Omelas have taken (Brooks, 2015).
By stating this Brooks challenges the ideals set by Le Guin in this short story on how every
human is equally and one should not be subjugated by this so called contract that was create by
the founders of Omelas. Nevertheless, this affects the people of Omelas as well, however, it also
sets their conscience at peace by telling themselves that, “We tolerate exploitation, telling each
other that their misery is necessary for overall affluence”, by affirming this others believe it is the
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