LANGUAGE & LITERATURE
LANGUAGE & LITERATURE
End Times CAELAN MARSHALL
that had shone on us the day I realised so many things.
You sat next to me.
Before us there were windows The sun Filled my vision yellow, yellow The TVs showed The same adverts that had played when we had taken this same trip days ago Before the world had changed.
However, even if it can be argued that the happiness of the collective is worth more than that of the few, the nature of the happiness itself should be questioned. Knowing their pleasure is the result of misery creates an obligation to make the child’s suffering worthwhile, forcing the population to value this happiness highly, and sustain it even if it is not desired. Continuing to make this child suffer for the ‘greater good’ results in the dependency on an entirely disputable principle for the sake of maintaining an artificial peace that, in reality, is wholly fragile. In this way, the people arguably live fabricated lives, with the narrator stating that ‘they know that they, like the child, are not free.’ Imprisonment within a positive environment should still be viewed as imprisonment. As such, the sense behind rationalising the child’s suffering begins to diminish. The happiness of Omelas is arguably built on an inability to give up this utopian society as opposed to an active, meaningful choice made in mind of the collective, creating a cycle of moral compromise that moves continually further from justification.
The narrator does present an alternative option to this dilemma. A few citizens are not able to reconcile themselves with what acts as the foundation of their city. As such, some ‘leave Omelas, [walking] ahead into the darkness, and do not come back.’ In departing what is presented as the idyllic society, these few portray both the cost of knowledge and the value in choice. In abandoning the city’s iteration of happiness, they have the opportunity to find true contentment, one that does not come at any price to another. However, the narrator also reveals that there may, in fact, be nowhere for these people to go, as it is likely that the place they are aiming for ‘does not exist.’ Despite this, they ‘seem to know where they are going’, suggesting their departure is, above all, a matter of principle. Le Guin’s story, particularly the ambiguity of the ending, forces the reader to consider their own moral integrity and ultimately, what they would be willing to sacrifice to preserve it.
the end of the end of so many things
you cried silently your ego failing to uphold your facade I turned and faced the sun looked it in the eyes and stepped forwards. it’s a shame that real beauty can be found in pain it’s a shame that that day on that boat despite everything I realised you really are just a man. The end times announced themselves and, head held high, I faced the sun.
Basked in the yellow sun You started to cry.
‘I failed you.’
I didn’t say anything because
You had.
Something was deeply deeply wrong In my stomach In my life
I remember the sun
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