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"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" was published by American author Ursula K. Le Guin in 1974. This short story is set in a city called Omelas where all of the residents appear to be happy and prosperous. As the story begins, the Festival of Summer is taking place in the city. The narrator describes the joyous celebrations that the people enjoy before revealing the secret that lies at the core of the city.A child is being held prisoner in a small, dark basement room in Omelas. Its gender is indeterminate, and it is undersized for its age. The child is left alone in the basement except for very brief intervals when other people come to leave food and water. Although the child begs for release, it is always ignored. It is kept naked and is covered in sores.The residents of Omelas learn about the existence of the child when they seem old enough to understand the situation. They are taken to see the child, and they always react with disgust and shock. However, they are told that if the child is freed, the society of Omelas will collapse, and everything that is good about the city will disappear. Most of the residents accept the situation and decide that the good of the many outweighs the good of the one. On occasion, though, a resident walks out of town toward the mountains and never comes back.Symbolism in "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" includes the use of the child as a scapegoat. This theory is explained at eclipsedmoon.net, where moral issues about the events of the story are raised. In an analysis posted at richardxthripp.thripp.com, the child is said to symbolize the rotten foundation of Omelas. The city itself symbolizes the ethical dilemmas that all people face. The child also represents societal guilt or ego. Another analysis at https://www.bookoflife.org describes the symbolism of the light images that are often mentioned in the first half of the story.

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Read here: The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas>>http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/faculty/dunnweb/rprnts.omelas.pdf