Lesson 1 Polls

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 4

It is better to be ignorant and happy than to be aware and upset.

AGREE

DISAGREE

NO OPINION

OTHER

The government knows what is best for us.

AGREE

DISAGREE

NO OPINION

OTHER

Rules exist to help us live our lives properly.

AGREE

DISAGREE

NO Opinion

OTHER

The police should be allowed to do whatever they can to protect the community.

AGREE

DISAGREE

NO Opinion

OTHER

It is all right to upset some people as long as you’re doing what is best for society.

AGREE

DISAGREE

NO Opinion

OTHER

You shouldn’t have to be around people that you don’t agree with.

AGREE

DISAGREE

NO Opinion

OTHER

If you know you are right, you shouldn’t listen to anyone else.

AGREE

DISAGREE

NO Opinion

OTHER

In an ideal society, everyone is equal.

AGREE

DISAGREE

NO OPINION

OTHER

Short Story The Ones Who Walked Away From Omelas

You're going to listen and read along with an audio recording of this short story. Once you have finished answer the questions on the following slides. You must answer using complete sentences and include evidence from the text. Think PEE.

What is the POV? Who is the narrator? Briefly discuss the different attitudes of the narrator. How does it affect the story?

The narration of this story is very interesting; the narrator speaks of the city in very broad generalities. He leaves many of the details up to the imagination of the reader. He gives the basic outline of the city and the people, but not the up-close distinctions, instead leaving the reader to fill in details "as you like it." 

Describe the mood of the story. When and how does it change?

As the story opens, the mood appears quite joyful and idyllic. The Festival of Summer is taking place. There are "merry women," and there is a "sweetness in the air." However, it doesn't take Le Guin long to switch this mood to one of a much darker nature.

When the child in the basement is introduced, the tone is dark and ominous; the mood is somber, brooding, and shocking. The child is treated inhumanely. All the people of the town know this, but most are willing to look the other way. Their own happiness depends on the misery of the child.

What role does the tormented child play in the story? How does it affect the citizens of Omelas?

 The role of the child might be to keep the Omelas in line. The position the child is in may be viewed as a threat to the Omelas; they may believe that if they go against what they are told, they will end up like the child.

The utopian city of Omelas relies on a social contract according to which each person must accept that their city's happiness depends on the suffering of one child. Those who cannot come to terms with the child's suffering leave the city alone on foot, their destination a mystery.

Who are the ones who walk away? Where are they going?

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas walk away because they do not want to be a party to the terrible crime of scapegoating the one wretched child. They decide that it is not worth it. The people of Omelas have made a strange bargain.

knowing that there can be no utopia, the ones who depart Omelas may leave behind the miserable child realizing if the child is freed, this scapegoat will simply be replaced there by another. So, the only alternative is to leave and find a place where there is no scapegoat, where each person takes responsibility for his/her own happiness, a happiness which inevitably must be accompanied by its own sorrow and guilt.

What is the source of conflict in the story? Who is the protagonist? Who is the antagonist?

the main conflict in this story as one existing between character and society. The narrator tells us that all young people are informed of and offered the opportunity to go and see the miserable child upon whom all their happiness rests. Many feel anger at the injustice of the child's horrible existence, and a few choose to leave the community and never return, either then or even later, after they've become adults and had more time to consider the situation.

Each of the citizens of Omelas, to my mind, fills in as the protagonist while society, a society which has tacitly decided to continue with this arrangement, becomes the antagonist. When faced with the community's decision to enjoy complete contentedness at the price of one child's abject misery, each citizen must decide whether they can live with this decision and themselves, should they decide to accept the benefits it confers.

The conflict in this story is a philosophical one.

The story talks a lot about happiness and joy. Would you agree in saying that the citizens of Omelas are truly happy? What is
then true happiness?

that there can be no happiness without suffering. Even in her imagined city of perfect happiness, LeGuin insists that one child must suffer extreme neglect and torture so the other citizens may experience joy.

The fundamental condition of life in Omelas is that, in order for society to be happy, the child must suffer without reprieve. The price of happiness, in other words, is suffering, and without one the other cannot exist. Therefore, the story suggests not only that suffering enables joy, but also that suffering and joy are always intermingled, and that achieving happiness requires an intimate understanding of grief. Since suffering and happiness are interwoven, LeGuin suggests that understanding suffering is an essential part of becoming happy. 

Utopias and Dystopias