Irene And The People Of Omelas example essay topic

All For One, or One For All In 'The Enormous Radio' and 'Those Who Walk Away from Omelas,' a question about suffering is raised. When comparing these two short stories, one is compelled to ask is it better that a society suffer to improve the life of one person, or instead is it better that one person suffers to improve the life of a society. In 'The Enormous Radio' and 'Those Who WalkAway from Omelas, ' the main characters dealt with the pain and suffering in their societies in ways that were remarkably similar as well as strikingly contradictory. In response to the question that these stories present, I answer that the least amount of suffering is most beneficial. However, answering this question about suffering becomes increasingly more difficult with the application of real life situations. In the case of each of the two short stories, suffering has effects on those who are not directly affected.

For example, Irene is depressed by the tough times that her neighbors encounter. And in addition, some of the people in the city of Omelas are forced to walk away because they can not bear to witness the suffering in their society any longer. The main characters in each story are members of societies with standards of living that are better than average. To describe Jim and Irene in 'the Enormous Radio,' John Cheever writes, 'Jim and Irene Westcott were the kind of people who seem to strike that satisfactory average of income, endeavor and respectability that is reached by the statistical reports in college alumni bulletins' (288). Clearly, Irene Westcott and her husband are living comfortably. In regard to the city of Omelas, Ursela K. Le Guin writes, 'Omelas sounds in my words like a city in a fairy tale, long ago and far away, once upon a time.

Perhaps it would be best if you imagined it as your own fancy birds, assuming it will rise to the occasion, for certainly I can not suit you all. Stated more plainly, the people of Omelas are living in a utopia. The glaring difference between the two societies is that Omelas is more like a carefree land of fantasy. The people of Omelas have the power to create ideal lifestyles for themselves. The setting of 'The Enormous Radio' is much more tangible. Irene and the people in her society do not have the power to control every event in their lives.

The societies of the Westcott and the people of Omelas are not as perfect as they appear to be. When Irene's radio begins to pick up the conversations of other tenants in her apartment, she learns that horrible things such as theft, adultery, and abuse are going on around her. At first Irene is upset by the terrible events that are taking place in her building. On one occasion Irene complains to Jim about a man who is beating his wife,' 'Don't take off your coat. Go up to 16-C. Mr. Osborn's beating his wife. They " ve been quarreling since 4 o'clock, and now he's hitting her.

Go up there and stop him' ' (Cheever 293). Irene listens to the argument all day. In truth, Irene listens to the problems of others because they make her feel better about herself. She is happy that she is not doing as badly as the rest of the people in her building. Irene says to her husband, ' 'You love me don't you? And we are not hypocritical or worried about money or dishonest, are we?' ' (Cheever 294).

Irene convinces herself that she is happy, and she refuses to see that she is as hypocritical as her neighbors are. In many cases, Irene uses the suffering of others in order to feel better about herself. Just as in Irene's society, great suffering is taking place in the city of Omelas as well. However, only one person in Omelas is unhappy. The unhappy person is a small child who is locked inside a dark and dirty room.

The young child pleads,' 'Please let me out. I will be good ' ' (Guin 413). No one answers the child's plea. Everyone in Omelas knows about the child. More importantly, everyone understands that the child's misfortune is a necessity.

Guin writes, ' '... they all understand that their happiness, the beauty of their city, the tenderness of their friendships, the health of their children, the wisdom of their scholars, the skill of their makers, even the abundance of their harvest and the kindly weathers of their skies, depend wholly on this child's abominable misery' ' (Guin 413). The people of Omelas know the meaning of suffering, because they have the child to look at and learn from. Without the child, the people of Omelas would not know if they themselves are happy. Irene and the people of Omelas are alike in that they use the unfortunate circumstances of others to make themselves happy.

A difference is that the people of Omelas have the power to end the suffering in their society, and still they choose to let it continue. Guin writes, ' 'Those are the terms. To exchange all the goodness and grace in every life in Omelas for that single, small improvement: to throw away the happiness of thousands for the chance of the happiness of one: that would be to let guilt within the walls indeed' ' (Guin 413-414). If the imprisoned child in Omelas is freed, the rest of the people in the city of Omelas will no longer be prosperous. Another difference occurs in the way that Irene and some of the people of Omelas change as a result of the suffering that they witness.

As Irene and Jim are having an argument, she is comforted by a voice on the radio, ' 'An early morning railroad disaster in Tokyo killed twenty-nine people. A fire in a Catholic hospital near Buffalo for the care of blind children was extinguished early this morning by nuns. The temperature is forty-seven. The humidity is eighty-nine' ' (Cheever 295). Thus, Irene continues to use the problems of others to uplift herself. On the contrary, some of the people in Omelas refuse to continue using the pain of another to prosper.

Guin writes, ' 'At times one of the adolescent girls or boys who go to see the child does not go home to weep or rage, does not, in fact, go home at all. Sometimes also a man or woman much older falls silent for a day or two, and then leaves home' ' (414). Because some of the people are not happy with the suffering in Omelas, they risk their happiness by walking away. And so Irene and the people of Omelas handled the suffering in their societies as best as they saw fit. In comparing the suffering of one to the suffering of all, neither Irene nor the people of Omelas handled their situations in a way that could be pronounced as more right or wrong. The truth is that without suffering and struggling, there is no progress.

Still one should not attempt to moralize suffering, but instead look to minimize it whenever possible. Work Cited Cheever, John. 'The Enormous Radio. ' Discovering Literature. Eds. Hans P. Guth and Gabriel Rico.

New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1997.288-295. Guin, Ursela. 'The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas. Eds. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1997.410-414.