Omelas Discussion Questions

  • How does the narrator invite the reader (“you”) to imagine the utopian city of Omelas? Why does the narrator want the reader to co-create this utopia? What purpose might it serve in the context of what happens later in the text? 

  • Why does the narrator keep asking the readers if they believe him/her? How have things changed in the story (and the readers’ perception of it) by the time the questions are asked the second time around towards the end of the story? 

  • Discuss the characterization of the child in the room.

  • Why does everyone in the city have to be aware of the existence of the child? 

  • Is it possible to have a happy/good/just society at the expense of someone else? 

  • Is ignorance bliss? Would the people in the story be better off not knowing of its existence? What would be gained from this ignorance? What would be lost? 

  • Can you think if any analogy of the child in the room in our society? If so, who is the child, and who suffers at its expense? 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nosedive Discussion Questions

1) How does the rating system at the heart of the episode work to organize society?  2) What values, behaviors, and beliefs does the system promote? 3) What values, beliefs, and behaviors does the system actively or passively punish or discourage? What are the consequences for those who behave outside the norm? 4) How is the rating system a form of currency in this society? Do they also use "real money"? How are the two related? 5) What parallels do you see between this system and current forms of social media in our world? What about other forms of surveillance or social control in our society? 6) How does the pastel aesthetic complement the themes of the episode? 7) What utopian elements does the society possess? What dystopian elements? 8) The episode seems to encourage a kind of freedom or escape from the system as a solution to it. Is freedom or escape really possible in this society? What would be the consequences of a life lived bucking the syst
Read more

Be Right Back Discussion Questions

) How does social media affect the relationship between the two romantic partners in the episode Be Right Back, before he dies? 2) How has the way we deal with grief changed due to social media? Consider for a moment Facebook's "Legacy Contact" option, which allows users to select a friend or family member to keep their account alive (think of a "digital" gravestone) after their death, or to elect to have ones account deleted upon their death. 3) How is this Facebook Legacy Contact option similar to the robot technology in the episode Be Right Back? If the technology in the episode were really possible, do you think it would be ethical to bring back someone back in this manner after they die? What are the potential consequences of doing so (consider what happens to the woman in the episode)? 4) What are some of the existential questions that AI and androids raise, in this episode and more generally? What do they have to teach us about what it
Read more