The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
E388966
"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" is a philosophical short story by Ursula K. Le Guin that depicts a seemingly utopian city whose happiness depends on the suffering of a single child, exploring themes of morality, complicity, and the cost of perfection.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas canonical | 1 |
| citizens of Omelas | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T3799275 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas Context triple: [Ursula K. Le Guin, notableWork, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas]
-
A.
Children of Sisyphus
Children of Sisyphus are the mythological offspring of the cunning Corinthian king Sisyphus in Greek mythology, often noted for continuing his royal lineage and associated legends.
-
B.
The Allegory
The Allegory is a politically charged 2020 studio album by Detroit rapper Royce da 5'9" that explores themes of systemic racism, social justice, and personal growth.
-
C.
In the Penal Colony
"In the Penal Colony" is a dark, allegorical short story by Franz Kafka that explores themes of justice, bureaucracy, and cruelty through the depiction of a gruesome execution machine in a remote penal settlement.
-
D.
The Osterman Weekend
The Osterman Weekend is a 1983 espionage thriller film directed by Sam Peckinpah, based on Robert Ludlum’s novel about a TV host entangled in a deadly CIA conspiracy.
-
E.
Joe Cinque’s Consolation
Joe Cinque’s Consolation is a non-fiction book by Australian writer Helen Garner that examines the real-life murder of Joe Cinque and the ensuing legal and moral complexities surrounding the case.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas Target entity description: "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" is a philosophical short story by Ursula K. Le Guin that depicts a seemingly utopian city whose happiness depends on the suffering of a single child, exploring themes of morality, complicity, and the cost of perfection.
-
A.
Children of Sisyphus
Children of Sisyphus are the mythological offspring of the cunning Corinthian king Sisyphus in Greek mythology, often noted for continuing his royal lineage and associated legends.
-
B.
The Allegory
The Allegory is a politically charged 2020 studio album by Detroit rapper Royce da 5'9" that explores themes of systemic racism, social justice, and personal growth.
-
C.
In the Penal Colony
"In the Penal Colony" is a dark, allegorical short story by Franz Kafka that explores themes of justice, bureaucracy, and cruelty through the depiction of a gruesome execution machine in a remote penal settlement.
-
D.
The Osterman Weekend
The Osterman Weekend is a 1983 espionage thriller film directed by Sam Peckinpah, based on Robert Ludlum’s novel about a TV host entangled in a deadly CIA conspiracy.
-
E.
Joe Cinque’s Consolation
Joe Cinque’s Consolation is a non-fiction book by Australian writer Helen Garner that examines the real-life murder of Joe Cinque and the ensuing legal and moral complexities surrounding the case.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (51)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
philosophical fiction
ⓘ
short story ⓘ speculative fiction work ⓘ |
| adaptedAs |
radio dramatizations
ⓘ
stage plays ⓘ |
| author | Ursula K. Le Guin ⓘ |
| centralTheme |
complicity in injustice
ⓘ
morality ⓘ social responsibility ⓘ the cost of happiness ⓘ the ethics of sacrifice ⓘ the problem of evil ⓘ utilitarianism ⓘ |
| comparedTo |
"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson
ⓘ
linked to:
The Lottery
classic thought experiments in moral philosophy ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| exploresConcept | a utopia dependent on a single victim ⓘ |
| featuresCharacter | the suffering child ⓘ |
| featuresGroup |
citizens of Omelas
ⓘ
linked to:
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
|
| firstPublicationYear | 1973 ⓘ |
| firstPublishedIn | New Dimensions 3 ⓘ |
| genre |
dystopian fiction
ⓘ
fantasy ⓘ philosophical fiction ⓘ speculative fiction ⓘ utopian fiction ⓘ |
| hasCriticalReception |
frequently anthologized
ⓘ
widely acclaimed ⓘ |
| hasForm | prose ⓘ |
| hasMoralQuestion | whether happiness justified by another’s suffering is acceptable ⓘ |
| hasMotif |
exile and departure
ⓘ
innocent suffering ⓘ social contract ⓘ |
| hasStructure | descriptive narrative with philosophical commentary ⓘ |
| includedInCollection | The Wind’s Twelve Quarters ⓘ |
| inspiredBy |
William James’s "The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life"
ⓘ
ideas about utilitarian ethics ⓘ |
| length | short story length ⓘ |
| literaryMovement | science fiction and fantasy ⓘ |
| narrativePerspective | first-person plural ⓘ |
| notableFor |
ambiguous portrayal of utopia
ⓘ
open-ended conclusion ⓘ |
| originalLanguage | English ⓘ |
| publisherOfFirstAppearance | Harper & Row ⓘ |
| setting | the fictional city of Omelas ⓘ |
| symbolizes | the moral cost of collective happiness ⓘ |
| targetAudience | adult readers ⓘ |
| titleRefersTo | those who choose to leave Omelas ⓘ |
| usedIn |
ethics courses
ⓘ
literature curricula ⓘ philosophy curricula ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas Description of subject: "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" is a philosophical short story by Ursula K. Le Guin that depicts a seemingly utopian city whose happiness depends on the suffering of a single child, exploring themes of morality, complicity, and the cost of perfection.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas