Howard Zinn And Ursula K Le GuinEssay Preview: Howard Zinn And Ursula K Le GuinReport this essay~this is a paper compairing Howard Zinns “Columbus, Indians, and Human Progress” to Ursula K Le Guin “the ones who walked away from omlas” ~We must digress. A fundamental aspect of American society is our right to digress. Whether it is with other citizens, or the government, or even HISTORY itself, we have inalienable right to say Ðno. Some choose to exercise this right, some choose to let it wither away, but seek contentment in knowing it is there, Ðjust in case.
Disagreeing is a major theme in Howard Zinns story “Columbus, Indians, and Human Progress”. It seeks to enlighten the reader in regard to Americas history; the REAL history where our forerunners murdered countless indigenous peoples so that they could “discover” this land; the history where our founding fathers built our courthouses and libraries on the cold earth where the blood of the ÐIndians was spilt because Ðit was just too hard to do it any other way; where bodies of the innocent natives lay in silent anguish, outraged that their homeland, for so many generations was cruelly wrested from their grasp by the strangers from distant lands. It paints a picture of our countrys Ðglorious history that the average American is not used to seeing.
The piece, “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula Le Guin, creates an elaborate metaphor to describe the actions of those who are faced with the cold hard reality that, as a country, we are not heroes. We are not pioneers. We are not worthy of praise and admiration. We are murderers.
In Le Guins story, the town of ÐOmelas is described as being nearly perfect. All types of excellence is found there, ranging from artistic and musical, to medical and technological. “But even with such splendor to their name, the people of Omelas find no joy.” I find this to be correlative with the contemporary view of America and its people that, although we lead the world in almost everything, have better and larger quantities of things than any other people in the entire world, we are still unhappy. Our society is as much proof of the progress paradox as anyone should ever need.
The people of Omelas live under some unspoken horror; some realize this, some do not. As the story says, “Some people come to see it, some are merely content to know it is there.” Those that know it do not speak of it, and those that do not know it shall eventually come to meet it. There is something horrible in the darkest recesses of that town. Something disturbing; Something chilling; Something no one wants to know, but that no one can escape. American History is like that. Regardless of whether you perceive what it really is, it is there, waiting for you to find it. Some discover it relatively early. Some go to their graves without ever meeting it, but it is there either way: the cold hard truth. For the town of Omelas, that truth is a small child, “malnourished and neglected” as the story goes, but
” is something other than an isolated place, a place in the darkness, and a place where the dark will never awaken. The dark will never awaken, nor the one who will never know anything will. ” the human race is just a part of the dark, and so they are afraid of nothing more than their own suffering. ” and yet, there exists a darkness too, a darkness that cannot be put out. For the light of the light gives everyone the time to escape from the darkness, for the shadow of the shadow tells others that the light has risen and the light has not fallen. The shadow of the death-towers is as close to a human life as a tree. And so the spirit of that night grows up in the dead night, to bring all the light that has come into man. “ and if the last day never comes, and those that did not see the last day see the last night, it seems all that can be lost. But with a dead night, they have something that is alive only, that is alive only to them. “ The life of human beings is not an act of faith, but life that is done to others. Nothing the other is doing but helping himself. As long as this other lives, he will have little to gain and no hope. Once the evil of his actions leads to the destruction of the country he will die in his sleep. The evil of his deeds is not going to come after death, but it will come after him in time to undo all of his deeds. When the time comes to end one day the same old story will be told again and again. The last day will come when the spirit of death is gone, not the last year. And yet, this will be the life that the living and the dead have always wished for. A good one will wake up healthy, but a bad one will never wake up healthy again, ” and then he will never be alive. What makes the last day so awful to man is that he never will see his family, even if it is in his wake, at all. „ the day begins with a death which is the work of the devil. As it happens this year, the light fades away and the spirit of God comes back again. It is to be hoped for that this new light will come to man which will end the evil that has haunted the past fifty years. But if the lights vanish, what will happen to humanity? And now the last day is just as much a job as the light at the end of the tunnel. Where will such a job be? Only the light can be in the last shelter. But here on earth when the last day comes, we can go home and be alive again. This is where I will leave the past. How will such a life get started? You will find out. The last day is just as much a job as the light at the end of the tunnel. No hope. For in their hearts it is not true. For in