In “Those Who Walk Away from Omelas,” Ursula K. Le Guin writes about a child who is locked in a dungeon-like room and how people come in and kick. the child so that he gets up and that certain people never approach the child. Many of these people knew they had a choice between allowing an innocent child to suffer certain death or throwing away comforts and leaving their precious city of Omelas. Some stayed and others simply left. Le Guin does it. a wonderful job of using symbolism. She does a wonderful job when referring to Cave's child. Cave's child is actually a scapegoat. Something the town uses to shift all the blame so they can live happily. He plays a central role in Omelas but it's really not a great job to have. Symbolism is used extensively to talk about how none of the citizens seem to have a complete grasp or understanding of what to think. During their younger years, they almost always seem to be in a state of confusion because of the child in the cave. At the beginning of the story, Le Guin emphasizes the idea that happiness always has a price to pay. It tells the story of a town or village full of joy and cheerfulness. “In other streets, the music was beating faster…people were dancing. » She lets us imagine the charming city as we see it. “Perhaps it would be better for you to imagine as you wish. » Le Guin then turns the story around and tells you how the child is forced to live in a mop closet in a basement, with no windows, he languishes in a corner, on a dirty floor, in his own excrement. She tells us that no one usually comes except to look at the child or kick him to get up. The whole world of Omelas knows he's there, ...... middle of paper ...... the world of Omelas is not set in stone. By doing this, it allows the story to have more of a fairy tale feel, instead of a solid, harsh world. The tone abruptly changes to flat, simple descriptions, showing that although the exterior is glorious, the interior of this room never changes. It is this place and its horrors that allow the external utopia to exist. Above all, this is the only concrete thing about Omelas; everything “imagined” above depends on this moral choice alone. The last line – “But they seem to know where they are going, those who stray from Omelas. ” – returns to poetic form and admits that there may be nowhere for the people who lived there to go. Just as the reader imagines Omelas, the escape must also be imagined, for once the knowledge of the starving child is known, it cannot be forgotten..