Final Exam essay question - sample answers

Questions and Sample Answers

Option X - "default option" - This is a simply organized question for those of you who want basically to demonstrate your mastery of the necessary ideas and texts.

Making references to several relevant texts, define and compare the "states of the future" studied since the midterm:

• Utopia
• Dystopia
• Ecotopia
• Off-Planet

[Regarding Looking Backward] All along I was put off by the cleanliness of that future. Life is messy. It doesn't have to be barbaric, but it is a mess. Bellamy over-organized it so that it became sterile and oppressive - and extremely boring. The occasional wise-ass waiter makes life interesting. . . . That's not to discredit the work altogether. Some of his concepts are compelling, like parks intermingled within the city. The common eating area is - in a way - a trend America is already moving toward. My husband and I rarely eat dinner at home anymore. My vision of the future would be for patrons in a restaurant to socialize more with each other. Wouldn't it be interesting to sit at a table with a stranger? - optional, of course. [DN 99]

In regard to utopia, it is difficult to ascertain a universal definition of such a state simply due to human nature: one person's utopia is another person¹s dystopia. For instance, in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, although the state is classified as a dystopia, it was evidently established as a utopian system in some conservative fundamentalist's mind. Someone thought it would be ideal to keep women in subservient roles so as not to perpetuate further evil. However, the measures were so extreme that evil existed anyway. Offred was a mistress to the Commander. She had no freedoms and no individuality. Consequently, this text is seen as dystopian, especially in light of how our society values individuality, equal rights, and freedom of expression. [MOS 99]

Ecotopia is the idea of man and nature living together in harmony. This idea is backed by the ideas of 19th-century liberals like Emerson and Thoreau, who advocated going back to nature to escape or change the modern world. [CS 99]

Among the ecotopian selections, "Chocco" by Ernest Callenbach reminded me of some African literature that I have read. Jon and Mikal were competing for the position of their community's "griot." [CG 99]

[Of ecotopia] If we truly believe in the Judeo-Christian God as Phyllis does in Red Mars, we are of the soil and to the dust we will return. Only God reigns in the heavens. . . . We cannot escape our lives that were originated on earth. They are a part of us and will remain within us, as evidenced by the hallucinations by the people on Spes in "Newton's World" as well as in the idea of manifest destiny on Mars. In Red Mars, Mars is a planned community (utopian). The outside is bleak, dry, sandy, and can kill you (dystopian). The creators of the space station change the inside to go along with the seasons and paint the dome to look like a sky (ecotopian). All of these characteristics make up the off-planet idea of the future. To look at all these possibilities, I believe we are slowly heading for an off-planet society. Maybe not in my lifetime, but probably in my future children's lives. The ecotopian idea is most appealing to me because of the presence of nature. I would not be happy in a world without nature. Sometimes the sound of the waves at the beach is the only thing I want to hear. It would be a shame if little pleasures like that were not available. [JS 99]

In literary terms, the most compelling state of the future is probably dystopia, because there is a problem that drives the plot. In utopian literature I get the sense of just reading ideas. . . . I want to know how they got there, and they don't explain that adequately. [MP 99]

As I view these states of the future, I can't help but remember the trajectories for our future. The trajectories seem so extreme compared to the states. Apocalypse, evolution, and alternative futures were interesting to study and to find their ideals applied to literature, but I found something missing. Where all the trajectories seemed more romantic, I found that the states of the future pulled me into the stories because of their actual possibilities of occurring. I felt that the states of the future used more naturalistic and realistic literature. Culturally, I believe that the states of the future give more room for open-mindedness to our thought. In my opinion I would much rather know that there is the possibility of the perfect world, the worst world, the lack of all technology, gadgets and machinery, and even the possibility of living on a different planet. How awesome it is to know that dreams can really come true. [MA 99]

Describe your vision of "the state of the future," using concepts of utopia, dystopia, ecotopia, and off-planet and comparing elements of your vision to examples from our major texts since the midterm. My vision of the future would be very much like Star Trek: The Next Generation. Earth would be ecotopian by nature, humans would be exploring the galaxy and our economic system would be a hybrid of capitalism and socialism. Our world would be consistent with Allen Hammond's Transformed World. How to actualize this vision is something I'm working on. [DN 99]

Much like the handmaid in the story by Margaret Atwood, I see the advantages of an earlier time and wonder if at one point we will reflect on it as better than where we are. All the technology and ideas designed to make life more content are also the causes of the decay in our world and society. Television with all its possibilities also encourages our youth to rely on its ideas rather than their own imaginations. It grips them and keeps them from a productive existence. It can also be our greatest teaching tool. [LMcB 99] In less than fifty years, I believe we will begin off-planet colonization. Beginning with the moon and then Mars, starting first with a focus on scientific / industrial "projects," we will expand to "living" colonies in less than 100 years.

A decade ago, I couldn't have made the same projection. But technology - and overpopulation / economic growth / pollution - have advanced so rapidly in the 90s that unless an apocalyptic crisis occurs in the United States we will be ready, both scientifically and politically, to make such moves.

But what will happen? How will such colonies develop, govern, grow, survive?

I would like to believe that we are becoming more enlightened every day. That we are working toward raceless, genderless equality. That wealth is more attainable for all and that freedom is possible for all. But I have to be realistic. The truth of these advancements is limited.

Margaret Atwood's cautionary Handmaid's Tale reminds us that, at the same time we are evolving to more democratic and open societies, there are elements of devolving fundamentalism at work throughout the world. I personally don't believe these elements can block the vision stated in the first paragraph, but they will not go away. [DM 99]