More's Utopia example essay topic

Utopian fiction or the imaginary projection of a perfect society in which all need and want have been removed and conflict is eliminated, has a long history. Sir Thomas More's Utopia is a focal point in the tradition of the genre, and More's contemplation of a society removed from daily struggle to a place of ease, has had a powerful and lasting effect on subsequent visions of the future. Dystopian fiction is the natural correlative of this literary mode and presents visions of imaginary worlds in which the worst of all possible social conditions pertains and where all ethical, aesthetic and metaphysical judgments are consequently. A strict definition of utopia would serve no useful purpose; as Nietzsche says, 'only that which has no history can be defined. ' A utopia always maintains a close and specific relationship with the sociopolitical environment from which it stems. Utopia is thus a game played between the two poles of reality and fiction.

(George Orwell, A reader's guide to essential criticism, edited by Daniel Lea, 2001) The term "utopia" first appeared in the 1516 work Utopia by Sir Thomas More, literally meaning " nowhere", it represents the perfect society. Thus, the idea is inherently ironic in that can never be achieved. Utopian Literature of the 20th century stands out / marks out through the relinquishment of the perspective which governed the utopia of past centuries: a positive utopia, confident in institutions and progress- an internal law of utopian genre. In the first years of the 20th century, utopia ceases describing the advantages of progress in the service of community, eliminating individual. In the first half of the 20th century, utopian history is dominated by H.G. Wells's work... His creation marks the transition from one period to another.

Social and political themes are still present, but this time are accompanied by scientific speculation. Characteristic to the 20th century is the next mutation or shifting: political and social regimes are no longer a concern or an interest, but rather the human nature, altered gradually, eugen y or controlled evolution; utopia abolishes history and past, in general, being placed in a parallel present, but in the 20th century, it is planned in the future. Anti-utopia or dystopia continues the tradition of utopia from the point of view of invention and of technique, but it differs regarding intention. Instead of welfare and prosperity, we have despair and misery; instead of flourishing, the end of humanity.

Anti-utopia goes in the opposite direction of utopia. Negative utopia, namely dystopia - in Anthony Burgess' terms - is directed not necessarily against utopia, but towards disassembling the idyllic prospect ion of utopian future. It doesn't denounce the principle of utopia, happiness, but the method of realizing this 'utopian's society. If at the beginning of the 19th century, utopia would be an anticipation at the most fairy-like, in the 20th century we can say that the dystopian authors show us which are the effects of progress revaluate d by the utopian steps. In this mutation science is used or abused by different types of rulers in the nearer future.

It will begin with psychology, the science which concerns us more closely and intimately than any other, the science whose subject matter is the human mind itself. In this direction, the novel of Aldous Huxley Brave New World appeared in 1932 and it is one of the most successful literary materialization of reflection concerning utopian evolution. Huxley's dystopia hints not only at criticism of science and its negative effects on human condition, but also at the totalitarian political regimes. Huxley is one of the authors who have offered the most consistent, original and defining elements for this paradigm. The same thing can be also applied for the history of modern novel. Both in utopian fiction and modern novels the defining element is the belief that the technical-industrial progress leads to alienation of individual, loss of identity and of freedom.

Brave New World moots the question of incompatibility between public good and individual salvation, pointing out standardization which makes impossible the affirmation of individuality. Huxley's dystopia is not directed against scientific progress, but against scientific progress to individual detriment. What distinguishes Huxley, as an, is the drama of biological-psychological manipulation of human being. Science, in this case, is not an instrument of knowledge, but of power in the service of the motto of the society: Community, Identity, Stability. The obligatory / compulsory prosperity of dystopian society is achieved by human deformation generating an absurd society without moral, values and without God- a dehumanized world. In this world, the cost of stability is the absence of individuality.

Stability needs robots in order to work, not human beings. Therefore at the basis of society is conditioning. Freud and his followers have shown how profoundly important to us are the events of the first few months and years of our existence. They have proved that our adult mentality, our whole way of thinking and feeling, our entire philosophy of life may be shaped and moulded by what we experience in earliest childhood. Following another line of research, the great Russian biologist, Pavlov, and the American Behaviorists have shown how easy it is, with animals and young children, to form conditioned reflexes which habit soon hardens into what we are loosely accustomed to call 'instinctive' patterns of behaviour. Another instrument used for achieving social stability is by the method Bokanovski through which is they produce standard individuals.

In the many years that followed More's Utopia, the genre of Utopian writing flourished as more emphasis was given to life as it is lived on Earth and explorers returned with accounts of societies that had different systems than European ones. The French satirist Rabelais in the first book of his Pantagruel (1532) has a section titled 'Expedition to Utopia. ' In his next book Gargantua, Rabelais describes another ideal society. The City of the Sun (1623) by Tommaso Campanella, Christianopolis (1619) by Johann V. Andrea e and The New Atlantis (1624) by Francis Bacon were all published in the early seventeenth century.

Like Utopia, there is no private property and money in this land and there is a sharing of work. Campanella too was interested in justice, religion, science and education. His emphasis on education for everyone and the importance of studying the sciences are two very notable Renaissance characteristics of this book. There is no money or property, equitable sharing of work and men and women are equal. Everything is commonly owned and education and scientific research are given prominence.

Francis Bacon's book is another that echoes the scientific interests of the time. In fact, Bacon asserts that science is most important in the advancement of human welfare. Written later than the other two, the emphasis on science recalls more of the Enlightenment philosophy than it does the Renaissance. After these three writers, the humanist Utopias came to an end and a new era of Utopian literature began, much of it inspired by Rousseau's theory of the 'noble savage,' which compared the essential primitive goodness of the savage to the cultured vices of Europeans. Denis Diderot's Supplement to Bougainville's 'Voyage' (1772) is an excellent example of the influence of this theory, At the height of the industrial age in America, Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward (1888) is the first important American Utopian novel. William Morris' News from Nowhere (1891) offers a view of England in the 21st century.

In Morris' view, all the atrocities and ugliness of industrial England has been removed and replaced with simplicity, elegance and beauty. Labor is regarded as a pleasurable activity because people are chosen to do jobs that they are suited for and take pride in their work. H.G. Wells' The Time Machine (1895), The War of the Worlds (1898), When the Sleeper Wakes (1899), A Modern Utopia (1905), Men Like Gods (1923) and The Shape of Things to Come (1933) are all Utopias of a sort although they are often unpleasant and frightening. Utopias written by authors such as Jonathan Swift, Samuel Butler, Aldous Huxley and George Orwell are certainly frightening and do not depict a society free of oppressive institutions and tyrannical leaders. Although more grim than Utopias, these books also bring to light problems in society yet they are rendered in a satirical manner.

These books are called dystopias or anti-Utopias. Samuel Butler's Erewhon (1872), an anagram of 'nowhere,' is another dystopia where unreason is worshipped. Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (1932) is a grim picture of a controlled society where humans have no individuality, no privacy or freedom. George Orwell's book 1984 (1949) is a savage indictment of authoritarianism in a society where every move is watched and noted.

In most of these works, societies are reshaped or analyzed in terms of what they lack and what they could offer for the majority of its people rather than the minority. Although they present many ideas that seem far-fetched and unfeasible, many of these books have influenced the actual attempts by religious groups, artists, and political idealists to create their own Utopias on a small scale. ' Essentially,' the D.H.C. concluded, ' consists of a series of arrests of development. We check the normal growth and, paradoxically enough, the egg responds by budding.

/... /'Can't you see? Can't you see?' He raised a hand; his expression was solemn. 'Bokanovsky's Process is one of the major instruments of social stability!' Major instruments of social stability. Standard men and women; in uniform batches. The whole of a small factory staffed with the products of a single egg.

/... /Ninety-six identical twins working ninety-six identical machines!' The voice was almost tremulous with enthusiasm. 'You really know where you are. For the first time in history. ' He quoted the planetary motto. 'Community, Identity, Stability.

' Grand words. 'If we could indefinitely the whole problem would be solved. ' 'Heat conditioning,' said Mr. Foster. Hot tunnels alternated with cool tunnels.

Coolness was wedded to discomfort in the form of hard X-rays. By the time they were decanted the embryos had a horror of cold. They were predestined to emigrate to the tropics, to be miner and acetate silk spinners and steel workers. Later on their minds would be made to endorse the judgment of their bodies.

'We condition them to thrive on heat,' concluded Mr. Foster. 'Our colleagues upstairs will teach them to love it. ' 'And that,' put in the Director sententiously, 'that is the secret of happiness and virtue-liking what you " ve got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their social destiny. ' 'The principle of sleep-teaching, or, had been discovered.

' /... /'Till at last the child's mind is these suggestions, and the sum of the suggestions is the child's mind. And not the child's mind only. The adult's mind too-all his life long.

The mind that judges and desires and decides-made up of these suggestions. But all these suggestions are our suggestions!' The Director almost shouted in his triumph. 'Suggestions from the State. '.