Another interpretation of “those who walk away”: Those who walk away are those who are even able to live in a non-Omelas, those who are able to imagine even the possibility of not having a hidden evil at the heart of a perfect world. The reader who does not walk away from Omelas, lives in Omelas and has lived in Omelas for their whole life, in the sense of mentally inhibiting the world in which any Omelas must have the tortured child. Those who walk away are therefore the very few who are able to reject that mental world, leave it, and achieve all the good rather than just the good that comes at a tragic cost.
This fits both the literal people who walk away in the story—they walk away because they imagine there is a land that is nicer, that doesn’t have a tortured child at its heart—and the reader metaphorically—they also walk away because they imagine a nicer world and believe that can be achieved without sacrifice.
Another interpretation of “those who walk away”: Those who walk away are those who are even able to live in a non-Omelas, those who are able to imagine even the possibility of not having a hidden evil at the heart of a perfect world. The reader who does not walk away from Omelas, lives in Omelas and has lived in Omelas for their whole life, in the sense of mentally inhibiting the world in which any Omelas must have the tortured child. Those who walk away are therefore the very few who are able to reject that mental world, leave it, and achieve all the good rather than just the good that comes at a tragic cost.
This fits both the literal people who walk away in the story—they walk away because they imagine there is a land that is nicer, that doesn’t have a tortured child at its heart—and the reader metaphorically—they also walk away because they imagine a nicer world and believe that can be achieved without sacrifice.