Mashreads Podcast

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss Ursula Le Guin's short story "The One's Who Walk Away From Omelas." The story forces readers to imagine the utopia of Omelas, an idylic land filled with festivals, sun and happiness. But as a part of an undisclosed bargain, the joy of Omelas is only possible if one child experiences extreme pain. This child is imprisoned in a cellar or broom closet, covered in sores and can have no happy thing or kind word offered to him. Everyone in Omelas knows of this child -- citizens usually learn of the child when they are between 10-12 years old – and many accept this child’s pain as a fact of life. The ones who do not walk away from Omelas into the great unknown never to return. Though only 4 short pages, the story forces readers to grapple with a complex moral and ethical conundrum: should we accept the pain of one person if it makes the happiness of many possible. Then, inspired by Ursula Le Guin and Women’s History Month, we discuss female au