Literary Utopian Societies Essay Example For Students

Literary Utopian Societies Essay Literary Utopian Societies The vision of one century is often the reality of the next (Nelson 108). Throughout time, great minds have constructed their own visions of utopia. Through the study of utopias, one finds that these perfect societies have many flaws. For example, most utopias tend to have an authoritarian nature (Manuel 3). Also, another obvious imperfection found in the majority of utopias is that of a faulty social class system (Thomas 94). But one must realized that the flaws found in utopian societies serve a specific purpose. These faults are used to indicate problems in contemporary society (Eurich 5, Targowski 1). Over the years, utopian societies have been beneficial in setting improved standards for society. By pointing out the faults of society, improvement is the most likely next step. Citizens should take advantage of utopian literature in order to better future societal conditions (Nelson 104). Because it is impossible to create a perfect society in which every ones needs can be met, society must analyze utopias in order to improve their existing environment. Platos Republic was the first true work considered to be utopian literature. In fact, the Republic influenced almost all later text written on the subject of utopia (Manuel 7). Although the Republic was one of the most influential works in utopian literature, the society that it represented also had many obvious flaws. First, Platos utopia had a distinct class system (Morely iii, Bloom xiii). The privileged class that ruled the society also enforced censorship in order to keep control over the Republic (Manuel 5). To perform all of the lowly tasks of the society, a system of slavery was enforced (Manuel 9). In addition, different forms of propaganda were used to keep the citizens in check (Manuel 5, Bloom xiv). The political and economic systems, in which the wealthy class controlled all the funds, were extremely restrictive (Mumford 4, Bloom xiii). With the society being in opposition to change, it would have obviously failed. A static society, in which propaganda is used to promote the State, disrupts the creative thinking process. And, without the creative thinking process, intellectual growth as a whole also slows (Mumford 4, Benz 3). Yet another famous Utopian society that appears to thrive on the surface is that of Sir Thomas Mores Utopia. Mores society was similar to Platos Republic in many ways (Will 1). The State, in Mores Utopia, controlled the masses through the use of propaganda just as in Platos Republic (Adams 154). Speaking out against the State was made an unthinkable action (Adams 253). The government of Mores Utopia was so centralized, that it was unable to adapt to changes and face problems (Mumford 4). This Utopia turned out to have a number of underlying problems. Aldous Huxleys a Brave New World was another utopia with many imperfections.In the novel, the characters living in utopia were under complete control of the government. They were exposed to propaganda beginning at birth and continued to be exposed to it throughout their lives. The course a personslife would take was already determined before he was born.Basically, the citizens of this utopia were robots. They did as they were told, and they had no accurate knowledge of what was going on around them (26). Only the elite class of Controllers had an unobstructed view of the world (235). Another theme that was put forth throughout the novel was that of the class system. In Huxleys utopia, the quality of ones genes determined his social class. No person had a chance of leaving his caste, and his conditioning had programmed his mind into believing that this was all acceptable (66).When looking at utopian literature as a whole, one realizes that utopias are merely a way that man uses to imp rove himself and the environment in which he lives (Eurich 7). The purpose of texts written about utopian societies is to inform the public of current social problems and to inform them how to fix these problems (Targowski 1). Almost every utopia is an implicit criticism of the civilization that served as its background. (Mumford 2). And with this criticism, positive change arises and sets us in another direction Civic Engagement EssayThroughout time, utopias have been models of contemporary society. By examining various utopias, one finds that certain faults have been purposely inserted (Thomas 96). This is because the authors of these works intended their texts to be used as objections against troubles in modern society (Coupland 3). After publication of this utopian literature, change often arose, and the problems, which had been discussed in the text, had been resolved (Nelson 100). As a result of writing about the injustices of the time, society has set improved standards for i tself (Adams 178, Fitting 5). With more utopian experiments in the works, one can only hope that society will once again answer the call to improve, and progress into the next century. Works CitedAdams, Robert M., ed. Utopia. New York: W. W. Norton Company Inc., 1975. Benz, Phillip, ed. Utopia3. 6 Jan. 1999 . Bloom, Allan. The Republic of Plato. New York: Basic Books Inc., 1968. Coupland, Philip, ed. University of Warwick. 11 Jan. 1999 . Eurich, Nell. Science in Utopia A Mighty Design. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1967. Fitting, Peter. The Society for Utopian Studies. 16 Jan. 1999 . Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Harper Brothers, 1932. Kateb, George, ed. Utopia. New York: Atherton Press, 1971. Manuel, Frank E., ed. Utopias and Utopian Thought. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1966. Morley, Henry, ed. Ideal Commonwealths. New York: Kennikat Press, 1968. Mumford, Lewis. The Story of Utopias. New York: The Viking Press, 1962. Nelson, William, ed. Twentieth Century Interpretations of Utopia. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1968. Taragowski, Henry W. Utopia. 6 Jan. 1999 . Thomas, John L., ed. Looking Backward 2000-1887. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1967. Utopia and Utopian Philosophy. Ed. Jon Will. 1999. Utopia Pathway Association. 6 Jan. 1999 . Validation of Electronic SourcesPhillip Benz received a Masters Degree in English Literature and currently teaches in France. Philip Coupland is a professor at Warwick University. Jon Will is the Vice President of the Utopia Pathway Association. Henry Taragowski is a professor at Xavier University. Peter Fitting is the Chairman of the Society for Utopian Studies.