The ones who walk away from omelas setting

Lemony Narrator: The story is written as the Narrator having a conversation with the reader.

The narrator refers to the child as 'it' because 'it could be a boy or girl' at any time in the history of Omelas, but the effect of this trope persists nonetheless: readers understand that the child is seen more as a thing than as a person.

'It' Is Dehumanizing: An Intended Audience Reaction.

Inherent in the System: In order for Omelas to function, one child must be kept in absolute misery.

Good Is Not Dumb: The narrator emphasizes that the happiness of the people of Omelas doesn't make them stupid or naive.

The narrator comments that even if it were to be rescued from that place, its brain is too damaged for it to be able to feel any real happiness.

Go Mad from the Isolation: The suffering child has become feeble-minded from being locked away in the dark for so long.

Along with the drooz, this shows that Omelas's happiness is not accomplished by restricting pleasant vices.

Free-Love Future: The narrator suggests that, if the reader thinks this would be ideal, then Omelas has this kind of society.

Fate Worse than Death: Being chosen to be the one child on whose suffering the city is founded.

The title refers to the people who believe their 'utopia' isn't worth it and abandon it for parts unknown. And everyone in Omelas is made aware of this at some point.

False Utopia: Omelas is a beautiful city where everyone is happy except for one child whose suffering is somehow linked to Omelas' prosperity.

Notably, this helps prove that Omelas is not 'goody-goody'.

Drugs Are Good: The narrator initially says that Drugs Are Bad, but then reconsiders, finding this puritanical, and says that drooz is a psychoactive drug that makes people happy without downsides, and beer is fine too.Diabolus ex Machina: That a child must suffer to maintain the rest of Omelas is deliberately written as spontaneous, inexplicable, and contrived, emphasizing how absurd an idea it is that this would somehow make the town more realistic.Aside from The Needs of the Many and Utopia Justifies the Means arguments it presents, it also proposes that since the forsaken child is so traumatized as to be irrevocably brain-damaged, perhaps there's no reason not to extend its suffering as long as possible to save someone else from the same fate. Devil's Advocate: At one point, the Narrator takes on that role.The Ones are people who choose to leave the perfect Utopian city of Omelas of their own will because Omelas' prosperity is Powered by a Forsaken Child.

Defector from Paradise: The story features the titular Ones.As readers who are used to reading dystopian literature can't possibly accept a utopia without some sort of catch, the Lemony Narrator just throws out the tortured child to satisfy the reader's inner curiosity.Thus, the narrator openly leaves many details of Omelas vague (such as their use of drugs or sexual norms), tells the reader it works whatever way they imagine works bests, and dismisses them as irrelevant. The essence of a utopia is being a happy place to live, but what is 'living well' will vary depending on an individual's value.Omelas one-ups this idea by having no significant plot on the fictional level, but instead having a Metafictional plot about a narrator deciding what the setting will by based on their presumptions of the audience's expectations. Many dystopian stories focus on the setting at the expense of any story or character (for instance, the original Utopia had a Framing Device but no actual plot).Deconstructive Parody: Dystopia, in particular utopia deconstructions, are themselves mocked by blithely passing over their implications from an in-universe perspective and questioning their use as narrative devices.Omelas genuinely is a Utopia, but one whose existence relies on a continually-sustained act of unspeakable barbarity towards an innocent.

The ones who walk away from omelas setting