They recognize, as Confucius does and Zigong does not, that living without these reciprocal impositions is, and ought to be, “beyond our reach.” In fact, I will argue that the people who remain in Omelas recognize and accept these costs as the price of imposing on the one who suffers. But as I will argue, while the happiness of the people of Omelas comes at an extreme cost to one, this in no way means it is without cost to those who benefit from it. 2 LeGuin’s narrator paints a picture of a city, Omelas, in which the general happiness of everyone in the city is the result of an extreme imposition, an extreme cost to one very unfortunate person. LeGuin’s short story “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” asks us to think about the degree to which our happiness is intertwined with others, and therefore how much we can rightfully expect from others and how much they can rightfully expect from us. The passage from the Analects is relevant here because Ursula K. We are not solitary individuals who, like Zigong, can, or even should, want to live beyond the demands of others. Humans simply are the kinds of creatures who must impose on others and therefore must recognize as legitimate the imposition of others on them. In the Analects of Confucius, one of the master’s disciples, Zigong, proclaims, “I do not want others to impose on me, nor do I want to impose on others.” Confucius replies, “Zigong, this is quite beyond your reach.” 1 Now, Confucius does not seem to be saying here that this freedom from imposition is beyond the reach of Zigong in particular, but rather, when seen in the context of the master’s overall teachings in the Analects, it is beyond the reach of every one of us to live without imposing on others or having others impose on us.
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