This week we’re continuing our discussion of “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” and also expanding to discuss Tom Godwin’s “The Cold Equations.”
Day 1
For Day 1 of our class, I introduced the idea of SF being a “dialogical” genre: a genre of fiction that is hypertextual and often in dialog with itself.
Then we watched the 1985 Twilight Zone adaptation of Tom Godwin’s “The Cold Equations” (1954)—a story that Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” might well be in dialog with—and for our purposes, can be read as a response to.
You can also read Godwin’s original story online. Since there’s no translation available as far as I know, it’s optional: seeing the TV episode is enough, but you can read it if you like.
For Day 2, my plan is for us to we’re going to dive into the Trolley Problem, and talk about the different ways Godwin and Le Guin respond to the trolley problem… as well as how we, as readers, may differ in our responses to it. I’ll also share my own personal reading of both “The Cold Equations” and “Omelas” with you, and explain why you should not treat my reading as authoritative. (In case it needs saying.)
Day 2
We discussed the Trolley Problem and watched a couple of Trolley Problem videos in the course of our discussion of the Trolley Problem.
The Trolley Problem (The Good Place):
The Trolley Problem in Real Life:
Finally, we discussed my own theory about “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” as well as why, as students, you should not trust my theory too completely.
Journaling
For this week, please explore “Omelas” a little more. You can:
- suggest your own unique reading of “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”
- critique my reading (i.e. the idea that the story is really, “The Ones Who Walk Away from the Trolley Problem”)
- explore one or more of the sources in the More! More! More section below and describe one of the other readings you encounter there.
- discuss whether the Trolley Problem is worth thinking about or discussing
- present your own reading of “The Cold Equations”
As long as you engage with “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” or “The Cold Equations” or The Trolley Problem (or all three, if you want), you’re doing fine.
For More
First, you don’t need to read Tom Godwin’s “The Cold Equations,” but you want to, there’s a copy of the story available at the Internet Archive.
Omelas is a deep, rich story in terms of provoking responses. Here’s some suggested—but completely optional—reading and listening for you.
- Jed Hartman has compiled a list of “Some Responses to Omelas” (which includes the stories I linked last week, and a whole lot more)
- The Last Archive podcast published an episode titled “The Word for Man is Ishi” about the link between Le Guin’s story and the last survivor of a genocide in California.
- Adrian Rennix & Nathan J. Robinson’s “The Trolley Problem Will Tell You Nothing Useful About Morality” (at Current Affairs) is a pretty good summary of the problems with this philosophical thought experiment—at least the version most people understand it to be—and includes arguments against even considering it.
- Youtube Channel Casual Philosophy argued that everyone’s gotten the Trolley Problem wrong… and points to the original philosopher who brought it up to support this claim.
- For any Star Trek fans in the class, the Strange New World series (on Netflix, I think?) has an episode based on “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas.”
- Writer P.H. Lee had some fascinating comments to make about reading “Omelas” from the point of view of the abused child. (Requires a Twitter login.)
- One piece of evidence that Le Guin didn’t intend “walking away from Omelas” to mean “do nothing to fix society” is that she later wrote a story titled “The Day Before the Revolution” and, about that story, she described the protagonist as “one of the ones who walk away from Omelas.” The story is a kind of prequel to Le Guin’s famous novel The Dispossessed.
- There are hundreds of interesting essays on Omelas out there, but I’m not linking them all. However, this one by writer C.R.E. Mullins about “Omelas and the Unbearable” is one I am linking, because I found it particularly memorable.
- Finally, you can further explore the Trolley Problem using this online game, which was submitted by a student.