# Please help identify this story

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-identify-this-story/403880>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 13, 2007, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-identify-this-story/403880 "2007-05-13T00:12:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bkoochin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f04885/32.png) [@bkoochin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bkoochin)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-identify-this-story/403880/1 "2007-05-13T00:12:23Z")

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I think this may have been a short story although it could have been a novel. The setting is as follows: People live in a perfect society without hunger, fear or pain. However, in order for this perfect society to continue one innocent child must be kept in constant suffering. I believe the story starts out with the main character visiting the child that was assigned to suffer (as citizens were encouraged to do) and the story went from there.

Ring any bells for anyone??

Thanks!

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**Author:** ![WoodenTaco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/45deac/32.png) [@WoodenTaco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WoodenTaco)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-identify-this-story/403880/2 "2007-05-13T00:15:48Z")

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Sounds a little like [The Giver](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Giver)

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**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-identify-this-story/403880/3 "2007-05-13T00:17:25Z")

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Ursula LeGuin - “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” (short story)

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**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-identify-this-story/403880/4 "2007-05-13T00:18:55Z")

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“The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula K. LeGuin:

> **[The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ones_Who_Walk_Away_From_Omelas)**
>
> "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" /ˈoʊməˌlɑːs/ is a 1973 short work of philosophical fiction by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin. With deliberately both vague and vivid descriptions, the narrator depicts a summer festival in the utopian city of Omelas, whose prosperity depends on the perpetual misery of a single child. "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" was nominated for the Locus Award for Best Short Fiction in 1974 and won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1974.
> The only chronolog...

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**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-identify-this-story/403880/5 "2007-05-13T00:45:00Z")

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Seems like a timeless meme; Gods, dragon, beastyofchoice protecting a society in trade of…

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**Author:** ![bkoochin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f04885/32.png) [@bkoochin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bkoochin)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-identify-this-story/403880/6 "2007-05-13T02:27:07Z")

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That’s the one. Thanks guys! That was bothering me all day long.