Lauren Collins Arnold INTL 3111 3/26/2014 The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas: The Cost

of Happiness The concept of being "happy" is one that has stumped society for generations. Today, there are countless books that claim to provide the perfect algorithm for happiness. Whether it can be found in 7 easy steps or for 3 payments of 19.95, no one seems to know. The conceptual framework provided in this story proposes that all happiness must come at a cost. In Omelas, the cost is the life of one child. In order for this society to function this cost is very necessary. Happiness cannot exist in a vacuum. That is, joy cannot exist without its counterpoint: sorrow. In a normal society, each person experiences periods of sadness and only through the absence of sadness can a person recognize happiness. This process happens in Omelas as well, as "it is their tears and anger, the trying of their generosity and the acceptance of their helplessness, which are perhaps the true source of splendor of their lives." Instead of each person in the society experiencing personal sorrow, they project their communal sorrows onto one child. They still have the presence of sorrow, so that they may recognize happiness, but they are able to understand it from a third-person perspective. As long as they realize that their lives are better off than the child's, they can appreciate their own lives better. While the obvious cost of this form of happiness is "the chance of the happiness of one", there is a subtle cost that each citizen of Omelas must pay: the knowledge that their happiness came at a cost. The people of Omelas "are not free" because they are trapped within the terms of the society. For those who walk away, they believe that the cost for

happiness in Omelas is too high to pay. Because "each one goes alone, youth or girl, man or woman" they take the cost of their happiness into their own hands. For them, their momentary isolation is a worthwhile cost for happiness that does not come at the expense of another.