One of my favorite authors, Ursula K. Le Guin passed away on 22nd January. Her dystopian short novel, “The ones who walk away from Omelas”, centered on the them of sacrifice. It gives me great insights whenever I read it.
Omelas is an ideal city. There is only joy and happiness. Except for one secret. A naked, 6 year old androgynous child Is locked in the basement of a building. The child can not (1)break away from its captivity (5) The child exists before the very eyes of all the citizens, crying, and asking out for help from it’s terrible confinement. However, if the child (2)breaks away from that vile place, if it were cleaned and fed and comforted, all prosperity and the beauty and delight of Omelas would wither away and be destroyed. All young people who are between eight and twelve have to come see the child, whenever they are old enough to understand. All of them feel disgusted and (3)break down when they learn this fact for the first time. They suffer from this terrible paradox. Almost all citizens made the excuse for the child’s absurd situation which is a responsibility that is so degrading and imbecilic. This is the kind of people that give up thinking deeply. However, some people do something quite incredible. They went away silently from Omelas.
Before the Revision
Title: Ursula K. Le Guin was passed away on 22nd January.
One of my favorite authors, Ursula K. Le Guin was passed away on 22nd January. Her dystopia short novel had the theme of sacrifice. “The ones who walk away from Omelas”, It gives me great insight when I always read.
Omelas is an ideal city. There is only joy and happiness. Except for one secret. In a basement of the building, a naked child who looks a girl or a boy which looks about six years old in locked. The child can not (1)break away. (5)Before all citizen very eyes, the child exists, crying, helping and want to out from the terrible situation like a prison. However, if the child (2)breaks away from that vile place, if it were cleaned and fed and comforted, all prosperity and beauty and delight of Omelas would wither and be destroyed. All young people who are between eight and twelve have to come to see the child, whenever they seem capable of understanding. All of them feel disgusted and (3)broke down when they knew the fact for the first time. They suffered this terrible paradox. Almost citizen made the excuse for the child’s absurdity situation which is a responsibility who is too degraded and imbecile. This kind of people gave up to think deeply. However, some people’s act was quite incredible. They went away silently from Omelas.
When I knew the death of Le Guin on twitter from my favorite translator, I felt a heavy sense of loss. but immediately I felt curious why I thought that. Because I can always read her novel whenever I want. I can’t (4)break the sense of loss down into key of answer still now.
homework:
(1)break away : Escape from captivity.
(e.g.”The horses were enclosed in a paddock but a few of them managed to break away.”
(2)break away from : Leave and become independent.
(e.g.”He broke away from the organisation and set up his own agency.”
(3)break down:
(3-1)Go out of order; stop functioning.
(e.g. “John’s car broke down on the way to the airport.”
(3-1)Lose control of one’s emotions.
(e.g.”The parents broke down when they heard the news.”
(4)break something down: Divide into smaller or simpler parts.
(e.g.”The lesson will be easier to learn if you break it down into small sections.”
(5)before your very eyes: If someone does something before your very eyes, they do it in front of you, without attempting to hide what they are doing.
(e.g. Before my very eyes, he took the rubbish and threw it into the neigbour’s garden.