Those Who Walk Away...F451 DUE 9-26-12 @8:15a.m.

[Mr. Daiss]

What thematic connections do you see between "Those Who Walk Away from Omelas" and Fahrenheit 451? Give evidence from both to support your claims. What part of human nature/society is "Omelas" commenting on?

[pdaugherty]

I think that the connection is that everyone in both of these stories are perfectly content with the way that they live but they are all ignoring something.  In Fahrenheit 451, the people are content with their lives but they are ignoring the fact that they are unintelligent and there knowledge is controlled.  In Omelas, they are all happy and they live in a happy world except for the starving child locked in the basement of a building far underground from everyone else.  I go into so much detail with the description because I along with everyone else find this disturbing.

[pdaugherty]

Am I the first one that has commented?

On Monday, September 24, 2012 10:13:25 AM UTC-4, Mr. Daiss wrote:

[smiller]

I agree with Patrick that the connections between the two are that they are all ingoring something and with what they are ignoring.  I think that the people in Fahrenhrit 451 they are ingoring that fact that they are all socially awkward and when it comes down to it just not really smart.  On the other hand with Those Who Walk Awat from Omelas they are ignoring the fact that they are all happy and have perfect lives at the expense of a little child being treated like garbage.  The Omelas are commenting of the part of human society that we all live in today if you think about it and go into depth.

On Monday, September 24, 2012 10:13:25 AM UTC-4, Mr. Daiss wrote:

[lreed]

In both stories, each society has learned to conform to each way of life style and they have learned to accept it, even though it may not be right at all. Both of these stories have people who are completely aware of what's going on around then and yet they are completely cluless at the same time. In Fahrenheit 451, people are made to believe that books are wrong, even though they really aren't. In the ones who walked away from omelas, they all know that the boy is suffering, but instead of doing anything about it they just come to accept it. And I too agree with sims and Patrick. I agree with sims on how the omelas is kind of like our society and its pretty selfish too.

[jwestcott]

What I see in comparison between these two disturbing stories is one thing, that everyone strives to make themselves happy. In Fahrenheit 451, Beadey explains to Montag that society continued to create forms of entertainment to amuse themselves and make them happy. In The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, the author describes them as happy, even though they know about the child in the basement. It seems that in both stories society oppress and antagonize minorities and individuals for the "greater good of all society". But isn't that child a part of the Omelas society? Society doesn't seem to realize that these issues negatively affect the society greatly, counteracting the society's original goal of improving itself. And if they do know and realize this, they try to ignore it, because they don't want to be inconvenienced by the happiness or freedom of the child or the book readers. The books are commenting on the First-World countries whose major supplies rely on the misery of inhabitants from Third-World countries, making a great comparison through their stories. But why write these stories in such a disturbing way? It written to bother us, to make us aware of the major problems that plague our modern society. Society always seems to want the easy-way-out, but it comes back even stronger than before to bite us. These two authors are trying to convince us and the rest of society to fix the problems now while they are this small, while it is still easy enough to stop. Any thoughts?

[kdoerksen]

Both stories show a fun, happy society where all the pain is hidden from them. In the Omelas story, they live in a perfect society, but they are unaware of the suffering that lets them live that way. When people see what was actually going on they are extremely saddened and can't go back to living there lives once they have seen the truth. In Fahrenheit  451, Montag cannot go back to his life once he has seen the truth either. You can tell they are both are not happy once they have seen the truth since people leave Omelas and Montag almost goes crazy in anger when he talks to Mildred's friends. Omelas shows the part of society where other people have to suffer, in order for everyone else to be happy.

[sperry]

The ones who walk away is very similar to Fahrenheit 451 in a few ways, the biggest being that society is a distopia. I'm really not going into any detail with it, but i will with the child. The whole story is more about the child than omelas. It is really sad, society runs on the dissatisfaction of other(s). Yet in Fahrenheit 451, it is SO symbolic with the child. Society is normal at first, yet for the happiness of others, it is thrown into a bad place. Everyone knows about it, they just don't think about it. It suffers until it can't anymore, then is simply replaced. This goes with the war in Fahrenheit 451. The city dies, then is rebuilt. Whether for the best or worst, we don't know, we do know however that Cole is the kid and society, messed up, thrown away, and nobody thinks about it.

[sperry]

Kayden is correct in the fact that both show a "fun" society, but that really is not significant much. The part that is, like he mentioned, is that they are unaware of the suffering. It is just AWESOME that you show how each plays their own part in society, and i would have never though of it that way. Yet i still don't get why the people leave Omelas if it was all that they were taught to know. if i were them, i'd probably kick the kid, after all, why would that be wrong?

[lreed]

BOOM! Kaden you're a genius. You're totally right about about the suffering part!

[lreed]

[aletaylor]

Those who walk away have a lot to do with each other. They are both in some way or another bad. In both stories the are living knowing of something. In Fahrenheit 451 they no about the books but are not able to read for it is illegal and in those who walk away there is a kid who is in terrible shape and is locked in a closet.  They also both have to do with finding a way to be happy. They find a way to be happy in Fahrenheit by not letting people become smarter than another thus making no one better than each other, and in those who walk away there is this one kid who suffers for other people to be happy. The kid in those who walk away is an example to other people and it kind of forces them to be good or they think that this will happen to them. 

On Monday, September 24, 2012 10:13:25 AM UTC-4, Mr. Daiss wrote:

[zallen]

One connection I think would be that the people in these stories do not care what anyone thinks about them. They go about their lives the way they want to not caring about anyone else. They are all happy with the world around them. In "Fahrenheit 451" Mildred goes about her life like nothing bad has happened and doesn't care about what happens to other people. For example when she told Montag that Clarisse had been killed she acted like that wasn't a big deal. In "Those Who Walk Away from Omelas" all of the people are happy and loving life again not caring about anything. Omelas is commenting on the upper class society and how happy they are.  

On Monday, September 24, 2012 10:13:25 AM UTC-4, Mr. Daiss wrote:

[zallen]

I agree with Kaden when he says that both of the societies are very happy and both of them are unaware of anyone else's suffering. Another thing I agree with is he said that all pain is hidden. I also liked when he mentioned that once both societies have seen the truth they become sad.

On Monday, September 24, 2012 10:13:25 AM UTC-4, Mr. Daiss wrote:

[kdoerksen]

I agree with most of the postes including Wescot's, but something interesting that I dont think has been brought up yet is how life is not better for anyone who sees the truth. Bothers paint a very grim world for people who see the truth, and they do not give a right moral awnser or a solution. So the awnser to if people should just live their lives and have fun suffer from melancholy of the truth is un anwnsered,

[kparys]

    There are a few connections that stand out to me in the two stories, The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas and Fahrenheit 451.The first similarity is that everyone in these stories are striving to make themselves happy or at peace with themselves. In Fahrenheit 451, the people of this society constantly destroy knowledge that is not known by most in the community to eliminate the possible inequality between each other. In The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, they know the child is in the basement, but they are still happy and content as if nothing is wrong. In both of these stories, both societies seem to thrive while oppressing one object or thing for “the greater good of society”. The societies seem to neglect the idea that the child is not part of society, but in a sense, he is the only thing that is normal in their society. I mean this in a way that the society’s main goal is to raise itself up and succeed, but don’t seem to recognize that their isolation of their problems is the main antagonist of the society. These authors are trying to foreshadow the dangers of ignoring or isolating issues that will cause an eventual downfall to society.

[kparys]

I agree with Kaden’s post in summarizing the way the people of the Omelas story deal with pain and perfection. I agree that society depends on other’s suffering to allow them to feel “happy” and free of guilt and sorrow.

 

[jlee]

The thematic connection between both stories is that they both show people being perfect and happy; when they are unaware that the truth is hidden and that someone somewhere is suffering, so they can live happy and guilt free.  For example, in “Fahrenheit 451” they have a law that banned books.  So, people (such as montog) don’t find out the truth.  Also, in “The People Walk Away from Omelas” the people are living their happy and perfect lives not realizing that there is a kid suffering in a basement hidden away from everyone else. 

On Monday, September 24, 2012 10:13:25 AM UTC-4, Mr. Daiss wrote:

[mstroud]

    The connection between both of these stories is there goal to make themselves happy. They both are almost oblivious to the bad stuff going on. When they finally open there eyes to what's going on they become sad and almost guilty about the way things are. In the story "Those Who Walk Away from Omelas" they are all happy except the one child and in Fahrenheit 451 they are all happy but they try to ignore the fact that they're taking away knowledge from there society. Both of these stories are a bit different and only want there society's happy.

[mstroud]

    I totally agree with Kaden. He makes a good point by saying that in the Omelas story, they live in a perfect society, but they are unaware of the suffering that lets them live that way. Throughout both of these stories ALL they seem to want is for the society's to be happy and perfect, but in the end that's not all that matters. Also, as Kaden pointed out you can tell that they aren't happy after they've seen the result or what happens in the end of these stories.

[rirappa]

These two stories really have one connection that I can think about. Both are worried about happiness really. In Fahrenheit 451 Beatty says to Montag many things but some include things like "books are destroyed or others happiness" in this book they do not want society to be unhappy so they burn something and ignore the fact they are in existence. The ones who walk away are almost the same. In this they have a utopian society and they are happy. The one thing that they do though it beat a child or as they call it "it" and beating that "it" makes or breaks all of societies happiness. The book says that if the kid were to get out and try to live a normal life society would crumble and fall but the book never states why. They also ignore the fact that the "it" is getting beaten after they have their mourning period after they are told.
In both of these books also there is the occasional person that doesn't like what happens and leaves in the utopian societies case and in Montags case it is them getting word out and burning firehouses. Either way both books have evidence that people occasionally revolt and try to change society.

[rirappa]

Jonathan wescott might have had the greatest response ever. The fact that he asked the question why they write these in a very disgusting way and he answered they wanted to make us aware of society today. That is very true and I agree with what you said in the whole thing.

[csquires]

I agree with Patrick that the connection between both stories it that the people are content with the way they live. The people have no knowledge of anything, but how they are made to live. I also agree with kaden his response is spot on about how the people living in each society lived a happy life and never noticed all the bad things happening around them. I think what Zachary said about the human nature/society in "Those Who Walk Away from Omelas". I think in both stories they focous one only one society or social class and how they live their daily lives and do the same thing every day and there is nothing bad that happens or the bad things that happen in their society don't concern them so they don't pay attention to them or they just don't care.

On Monday, September 24, 2012 10:13:25 AM UTC-4, Mr. Daiss wrote:

[rirappa]

Oh and I forgot the second part of what part of societyis omelas commenting on.
He is commenting on the fact that we all have good lives on someone's expense. We all have what wee need because someone is breaking their back to keep us together and they person that is Breaking their backs is the hinges of society.
Today you wear a shirt, eat food, and have all the nice stuff you do because someone from a 3rd world country is trying as hard as they can everyday to ensure that we have a good shirt or a good IPhone and for what 1 dollar an hour? This also speaks towards the value of human life in our nation and every other nation... It is very very very low and no one cares about one human life if all the others have good lives

[aherndon]

I think that the connection between the two stories is how they both comment on the value of the human life.  In Those who Walk Away from Omelas there is an innocent child that is suffering so that the people can stay happy.  Even though everyone knows about him, they do not do anything to help him.  This shows that the people of Omelas care only about themselves and do not value other lives.  In Fahrenheit 451, people do not value the human life because there are so many people in the world.  If one person dies, they do not consider it a loss because of the overpopulation in the city.   I think the part of our society that the author is commenting on is the treatment of poverty stricken people.  In the book, the child locked in the closet represents all of the people in our society that are less fortunate than us and the citizens represent us.  The concept of us benefitting from the suffering of the less fortunate is displayed very well in the story.

On Monday, September 24, 2012 10:13:25 AM UTC-4, Mr. Daiss wrote:

[dclaxton]

There is one main connection that stuck out to me in particular. The main connection is that   
the societies in Fahrenheit 451 and Those Who Walk Away From Omelas take away something important to make the majority of the people in these two stories happy. For example, in Fahrenheit 451 the law bans books to make everyone happy and to not offend anyone. This creates am certain equality in the society that Montag lives in.  But in the story Those Who Walk Away From Omelas the people take away the child's freedom and overall life experience to make the society happy.  The child will never know about life above the cellar that he lives in except for the people who come and watch him.    

On Monday, September 24, 2012 10:13:25 AM UTC-4, Mr. Daiss wrote:

[dclaxton]

I agree with Patrick because I saw the thing about ignoring something when I read the stories.

[aherndon]

I think Wescott explained the way the stories comment on our society very well.  The point that you made about the child being a part of the society
 of omelas was very interesting.

[etenney]

A connection between the two stories is how they both have to do with the value of human life. In "Fahrenheit 451" human life is not valued as very important because of the large amount of humans on the earth in that time. An example of how they do not value it in Fahrenheit 451 is how when someone passes away they do not grieve over them passing or count it as a loss to society. In Fahrenheit everyone strives to make themselves happy and they do not care of what others feel or think. In "Those who Walk Away from Omelas" people also do not care very much of others being happy they make everything revolve around their own happiness. The child suffering is for the people to stay happy. Although everyone knows of the child who is suffering no one cares enough to help him out of his struggles. This is an example of how much they only care of themselves and do not put any value on any other people's lives. The child locked in the room represents all the less fortunate and the people who view him represent ourselves letting everyone know it could be worse so they stay happy. 

[etenney]

I agree with Kaden completely. I especially agree on how you said all the pain is hidden if there is any. Also how you said both societies are happy although they are unaware of the wrong that is occurring and other people's hurt.

[jkramer]

Both stories display the theme of people ignoring something in society that makes it happy for most people except for one, as in "Those Who Walk Away from Omelas". In this story people ignore a young child who has been locked in a dirty closet and must stay in there to maintain the happy society that everyone else lives in. But in "Fahrenheit 451" society ignores the fact that it is ruled by technology and there is a lack of communication amongst the people. In both stories there are those who see the problem with society and, rather than ignore it, they decide to "walk away" from it. In "Those Who Walk Away from Omelas" some people just walk away from the town and go to a place that may not even exist. Whether or not they walk away because they see the flaw in their society or they feel guilty, they still leave to go somewhere else. In "Fahrenheit 451", Montag and many others have decided to leave there society due to the destroying of books and the overpowering influence of technology in life. "Omelas" is commenting that our society is dependent on someone else's misery to make us happy. It is also saying that human nature is partialy indifferent to the fact that people are working every day to create a virtually perfect society.

[rcowart]

The thematic connections I see between "Those Who Walk Away from Omelas" and "Farenheiht 451" are both stories that have problems in there world that the people are not really aware of, or just don't care about it. I agree with Lexie on how she says that the people are some what aware but mostly clueless. I think that it's pretty sad in Farenheit 451 how the people believe that to have happiness in store there needs to be no books. In my opinion thats a ridiculous move on there part. I agree with Kaden on how he said in Those Who Walk Away from Omelas about how there society keeps happiness in their world by locking up one little kid. Kaden says that in order for one person to be happy another person has to suffer. this is so true, yet so sad. I agree with Sims and Patrick also on how Omelas is commenting how our society is just like theirs, "Selfish"!!!!

[rgarvin]

I think the main idea of the two stories come down to what the people want or what is for the greater good. In the story Those Who Walk Away from Omelas There is a little child locked up and tortured so that the people of the city can live a happy life. This may be cruel for one person but the way they see it is, this one person's misery is the key to our happiness. In fahrenheit 451 books are banned and burned because they would conflict with what the people reading them would want to hear. People are not open to hearing knew things if it is against what they believe, they hate it.  Another theme I see that is similar is the low value of life. in Omelas a little child is tortured and in Fahrenheit 451 people die every day and no one seems to care.   

[rgarvin]

I like the way sim's said that the people are "socially awkward" and "just not really smart" in fahrenheit 451. I also liked the rest of his response of course. 

[hyun]

I totally agree with both Kaden and Rachel. People in both story are happy when there's some kind of "pain" somewhere and in someone but they don't know it or just don't care.
Montag says that he heard the "rumor" saying that they are rich and other part is "poor" but they don't know and don't care. I honestly didn't understand the other story but I thought the boy reminds me of Clarisse. I know they are really different but I thought Beatty seems to think that it's a "good" thing that Clarisse died because she might influence on others and people won't be happy and in other story people seems to think that they will be happy if the boy suffer and locked in the room(kind of like unexisting). So in both stories/society, they think the boy and Clarisse will be kind of like huge influence on them whether they will be happy or not.

[hyun]

[cwilliamson]

I don not really see any connections from the stories other than a few. They are similar in the fact that they are simple but not simple. In Fahrenheit 451 the people are fairly basic. They don;t really rely on any of their technology its just sort of there. It's the same with the Omelas. The people that walk away are similar too. They walk away because they are disgusted with the way that the Omelas treat the child. The people in society in Fahrenheit 451 walk away from society becasue they are disgusted at the way books are treated and they want to get away from it.

[jwestcott]

Responding to several posts, particularly those of Kaden and Jilia, the biggest question is why is no one taking a stand for their moral values in these stories (and ignoring something in society instead). The truth is everyone is too afraid of what others will think of them. What makes peer pressure so effective? It's simply because we are worried about how people view us. Seriously though, why should we care about what others think? God is always with us. (Romans 8:31-"What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?"-----1 Timothy 4:12-"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in faith and in purity."---Titus 2:7-8- In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.") Hopefully these verses help my points. If we take steps outside our comfort zone to stand up for our moral values, we will soon find that we are not alone after all. In most cases, it is because of your example (or in other words the first one) that others find the courage to stand up as well. As for ignoring knowledge (such as in Fahrenheit 451), it is mainly because of our pure laziness that we reject and are afraid of knowledge. We later become afraid of those with knowledge we don't have, because they have a major advantage over us, and instead of trying to learn from them we continue our ignorance and shut them up in different ways and forms. ("The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."-quote by Socrates, taken from poster in Mr. Evans classroom.)

[jkramer]

I agree with Markie that society's goal was to make themselves happy but that they were oblivious to the fact that bad things had to take place to achieve this society. In "Omelas", even though they may feel guilt about the state of their fellow human beings misery, they do nothing about it. In "Fahrenheit 451", those who have the capacity to think differently and have the ability to retain knowldege about their society, do not use it to influence others or change their ways, excpet Montag. Those who do not know any different obviously cannot do anything about it becasue they do not have the ability to reason with their own ignorance. Though these stories are described in very different ways they are not so different at all.   

[jnazon]

Similar to what kaden said about suffering both of these society have suffering in them but really don't realize it. In Fahrenheirt 451, I'll use Mildred as an example, she ignores the world but deep down she really suffer, but refuses to acknowledge it. Like when she almost dies from the pills, in my opinion that was basically a suicide attempt (in a way) but she doesn't even acknowledge this. So 451's suffering  is the hidden parts of people they refuse to see.
In Omelas the suffering is a bit different since only one being suffer: the child. His suffering leads to their carefree lives. The difference form 451 is that they acknowledge the child, they know he is there, they feel like they should save him, but why would they? They know saving him would get rid of their happiness, so they just accept the child's fate. But in both stories there is that minority that doesn't agree with the way it is, in 451 it's the book people (Montag and Faber included), and in Omelas it's the people who left.

[tpatten]

I think that the connection between the two stories is that they have this “perfect society,” and they are very determined to let nothing ruin it. The society in Fahrenheit 451, they seem to love life just the way it is, and they don’t care about having no knowledge of anything. In the other story, Omelas, they live in a place where everyone is happy and care-free. Everyone‘s life is perfect, except a poor, helpless, starving child that is locked in a basement. They use the child to explain to the younger and new people why society must remain perfect. I found both of these stories quite disturbing and strange. I agree with what Patrick and Jonathan W. said in their responses.

[gfrick]

The connection between Fahrenheit 451 and the ones who walk away from Omelas would be that the unintelligent are are everywhere and that ignorance is so widespread. Even when they have a chance to think and respond with things they themselves thought and not with what has been force fed to them they refuse it. They believe that ignorance and happiness is enough to keep them shortsighted on there own. Seeing as not thinking gives the a "free" happiness the illusion of true happiness.

[gfrick]

I agree with rappa about everything revolving around happiness. And that people will do crazy and or stupid things to get to it.

[mculberson]

In these two books they are all based on something that "society" doesn't want.  In Farenheit 451, the society does not want books or magazines.  In the book all the firemen are there to burn books and start fires, which in reality contredicts everything we know.  In the story "Those who walk away from Omelas", they all want ot be guilt free.  In the story the narrator talks aout how there is one child stuck in the closet to suffer, so that every one else can be happy or guilt free. "Omelas" is talking about the Eutopian society.  The society or nature of a perfect world, where evderything is perfect and no need for bad things to happen.

 

I LIKE THE WAY ALEX COMMENTED ON THE VALUE OF HUMAN LIFE.  HIS COMMENTS WERE SPOT ON TO WHAT EVERYONE ELSE IS SAYING.  HOW THERE IS A BOY WHO HAS TO SUFFER FOR OTHERS TO BE HAPPY, AND ALL OF THE OTHER THINGS ETC......

[gparsons]

  I agree with what Matt was saying. In each of these stories society obviously is trying so hard at making the world a better place, they make it worse in the progress. In ,Fahrenheit 451, they try to make things have less mass, and what has more mass than books? In ,Those who walk away from Omelas, its guilt. they have a little baby boy who everyone kicks around and hurts so they never feel guilt. Also, in this story everyone is almost hypnotized by the power they "feel" they have. they think they are in control or that they can have less control over their lives, but really people are controlling it for them. It's really quite terrifying. Because it's almost like we are all heading in this direction. you never know...............

[jpark]

I agree with how Patrick says that the people are ignoring something in their lives. They are going farther away from the world in the past. The stories both don't advance in much like education. Like Fahrenheit 451, the only technology that is advancing is TV's on the wall and not much. I also like the way Patrick says that their knowledge is controlled in Fahreinheit 451. I think it's controlled by the TV's the people have on their walls (which is ABSURB! <--- idk if that's right spelling)

 

The story "Those Who Walk Away from Omelas" was, NO OFFENSE, but a weird and pointless story.. It talks about how happy the people are and then..... a child that is suffering! That's quite sad. The comparison i see is that the child is suffering just liek the people on Fahrenhiet 451 is suffering from their own little world that they can't really get out of. Also the law closes the people out from life like no books nor magazines^^

[taaron]

Between the two stories there are a few connections that link them together. i think one 

of the main ideas is that in both stories everyone is living a normal easy perfect life. they dont 

really have to worry a bout much happening, but while they have an easy perfect life, otheres are 

suffering. in fahrenheit 451 whike everyone lives inside there homes going along with life, Montag 

is bascically going mad over all the things he figures out just because he reads some books. in 

Omelas in order for there perfect society to continue, a little child must suffer his whole life 

locked away in exile.

Another main connection would be how people react when they figure out just what i 

happening around them. bascically in both society's, when the people realise what is going on, 

they freak out. In Omelas, when some of the people wee wwhat the child is going through they just 

leave. they give no notice they just go outside and start walking. In fahrenheit 451, when montag 

figures out how his society works he almost goes insane over the fact of what is happening.

i think everyone pretty much had a good response, but i think lexie had a really good one. 

[mnelson]

In both of the stories, the world the people live in is messed up. Enough said. The people in both of the stories are okay with the life they live and they have accepted the fact that THIS is how it is going to be. In F 451, Mildred doesn't think outside the box and Montag does. Montag's mind wanders to a place outside of this "perfect society." Montag is not accepting the way his life is, he wants to know more and he craves more knowledge. Unlike Montag, Mildred does not dwell on the past, (which can be a very good thing in some cases) for example, she hisses at Montag when he speaks of Clarisse and it is very obvious that she is more concerned on the present and the future. These people don't think because they have accepted everything! Both society's are ignoring the fact that they are unhappy! I don't think anything I just said made any sense, but it's the thought that counts... 

[mnelson]

I like your response because I agree with everything you're saying. The people accepted it. Boom, yes.

On Tuesday, September 25, 2012 6:14:41 PM UTC-4, lreed wrote:

In both stories, each society has learned to conform to each way of life style and they have learned to accept it, even though it may not be right at all. Both of these stories have people who are completely aware of what's going on around then and yet they are completely cluless at the same time. In Fahrenheit 451, people are made to believe that books are wrong, even though they really aren't. In the ones who walked away from omelas, they all know that the boy is suffering, but instead of doing anything about it they just come to accept it. And I too agree with sims and Patrick. I agree with sims on how the omelas is kind of like our society and its pretty selfish too.

[nbowden]

I think that a theme in both stories is that both society's are happy with what they have and with how they live, and they refuse to admit that something, (or some things) that they are doing are wrong. And in both stories, there are people who do admit it and who don't really know what to do about it. Like in Omelas, obviously the people that walk away don't know what else to do. And in Farenheit 451, Montag doesn't know what to do either. The Omelas are commenting on a Eutopian society, where everything is perfect, but at the same time everything is flawed.

[jocoates]

The thematic connection between the two stories is that both of the story's themes can be applied to our modern society.  In Fahrenheit 451, books are burned because they can contain offensive materials.  This is shown on  page 59, when it says, "Colored people don't like Little Black Sambo.  Burn it.  Whit people don't feel good about Uncle Tom's Cabin.  Burn it. Today's society is so obsessed with not offending people that prayer isn't allowed in public schools and people have to watch their words (even though they have Freedom of Speech) so that they don't offend people with opposing political or religious opinions.  In "Those Who Walk Away From Omelas", one is always suffering so that others can be happy.  This is displayed in the story when it says, "It it [the child] were cleaned and fed and comforted... all the prosperity and beauty and delight of Omelas would wither and be destroyed."  I think that this story was written to voice the author's opinion on slavery (which is still a problem in the modern world today). 

[pdaugherty]

I agree with sims when he says that the people are selfish and that they are ignoring the child for the better treatment of themselves.

[jocoates]

In Fahrenheit 451, all people aren't ignoring the fact that they are unintelligent and that their knowledge is controlled.  Did you forget about the main character, Guy Montag?  What about Clarisse and Faber?  Refer to the majority of a population as society not all people.  Same thing with "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas," you said that all of them were happy.  Actually, most were very saddened by the child in the basement.  Some even left Omels because they couldn't handle that the child was suffering for their happiness.  Again, use the word society instead of the word "all."  You pretty much shot yourself in teh foot by using the word "all."  Other than that, great job, Patrick.