Omelas Topics

1. By imagining and co-creating this city of Omelas with Le Guin, do we share a responsibility for the suffering of the child in the basement? (this is an allegorical question; obviously we don't lock a child away in a basement somewhere in Richmond)
2. How might the contrast of childhood and adulthood (or at least puberty), be represented through the coming of age in Omelas? Why are youth the first ones to consider walking away?
3. Is the sacrifice of something precious a worthy trade-off for the pleasure and comfort of thousands?
4. Why does Le Guin use such thoroughly exaggerated pleasures to allegorize our own? How do these pleasures echo the kinds of pleasures we pursue?