The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas Literary Analysis

In "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas," Ursula Le Guin tells the story of a corrupt society. Through setting, symbolism and situational irony Guin demolishes any kind of rational behind such a debauched community.
In the very beginning of the story, Guin eloquently describes the setting, "In the silence of the broad green meadows one could hear music winding through the city streets, farther and nearer and ever approaching, a cheerful faint sweetness of the air that from time to time trembled and gathered together and broke out into the great joyous clanging of the bells" (Guin).  By using such vivid, upbeat language and description, the author really shows the reader the beauty of Omelas.  This also helps Guin to prove her point of how appalling the society is because when contrasted with the sourness of the child, the true evil of what is being done is revealed.  Similarly, there is much symbolism within the piece, which also foreshadows the end.  When describing the people of Omelas, she said "We can no longer describe a happy man, nor make any celebration of joy... [the people] were not naive and happy children--though their children were, in fact, happy" (Guin).  In this passage, age is symbolic, meaning knowledge.  When children are young, they are oblivious to the suffering child, and are therefore still light, happy kids.  But when they reach a certain age, they are informed of the horror of the society, and therefore loose their happiness.   Finally, this also demonstrates Guin's use of situational irony in the piece to emphasize the horror of what they are doing.  Children run around ignorant to the town they live in, making the audience feel greater remorse and pain for the suffering child because the happiest people in the town do not even know why they are truly happy at that point in time.
Through setting, symbolism and situational irony, Guin uncovers the true horror behind the irrational community of Omelas.