How Omar of ‘The Wire’ Lived Honorably by His Own Code by Ensuring the Rules of the Game Were Upheld

Debra Minoff and Susannah McCullough of the television and film analysis site ScreenPrism took a crucial look at fan favorite Omar Little of the superb 2005 series The Wire. From the start Omar is a contradiction in so many ways, he robs, steals and kills, but the thing that makes him different from all the other thugs around him is that he lives by a specific code in which the only people who get hurt are the ones who are living that life.

He purposely excludes innocents, taxpayers, witnesses, bystanders from his violence, but as he says “the game is out there, and it’s either play or get played”. Omar is highly intelligent, curious, doesn’t curse, he takes his Gran to church and protects those whom he loves, exacting revenge on their deaths when necessary. Omar is an odd moral compass, but by insisting that the rules of the game be upheld, he set an example for the next generation.

Omar is the Robin Hood of The Wire in a very literal way he makes his living by robbing the Hood, stealing from drug dealers and giving back to his community, Omar feels almost mythical because it seems impossible to do what he does and stay alive …And Omar’s superpower is really his code …We respect Omar as a moral character because he shows courage integrity and a coherent worldview through living by the rules he’s made for himself. Ultimately Omar shows what the basic worth of a code is, it offers us the freedom to live as ourselves without fear or regret…