LITR 5439 Literary & Historical Utopias
Final Exam Submission 2009
Julie Bollich
July 9, 2009
Topic A2: Cultural Harmony
I was the discussion leader on the last day of class. As I asked my final question, silence invaded every corner of the room: Can different races of people ever live together harmoniously? Saddened eyes looked back at me. One of the black women in the class stared boldly at me and said, “No. People are too different, even within the same culture. In the black culture, it matters if you are light or dark skinned, where you live, how you were educated.” “And,” interjected another black lady, “people feel more comfortable with their own kind.” I was crestfallen. Am I really so naïve to think that our human race can, one day, overcome racial prejudices and learn to respect each other’s differences? I believe that the utopian impulse is a universal one. Who wouldn’t want a better society? A better world?
In the novel Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach, the issue of segregation is brought to the forefront by the creation of Soul City. Many African Americans choose to segregate themselves from the rest of Ecotopian society, and Callenbach argues that this is a more positive way of dealing with different cultures because the choice lies in the hands of the minority and not, as was true in the past, in the hands of the white majority. But I, like the protagonist Weston, am disheartened “that the races cannot live in harmony” (p. 110). Yet, I have seen this communal segregation in the “real world”, as well, and should not be surprised. For my midterm, I researched suburbs as a type of utopia and discussed the issue of gentrification. Also, the research I posted about utopian art discussed how architecture was a major conduit for segregating the utopian communities from larger society in “real life” and in literature. The substructures of a utopian society definitely seem to promote segregated lifestyles. Our cultures do not live harmoniously, especially in the literature we have studied, and sadly the majority of it was fiction! So if we can’t even live peacefully in a fictitious utopian world, how do we ever expect to live so in reality?
Objective 3E asks about the “social structures, units, or identities . . . expose[d] or frustrate[d]” in utopian literature. The idea that multicultural conditions are not being met within the literature is definitely a problem. It’s as if we are back in the 60’s when blacks were forced to drink out of different water fountains than whites. The water fountain was not to blame, it gave the same amount of water no matter the skin color; it was the ignorant ideals of the majority that kept people from drinking from the same fountain. This is how it is in literature. We shouldn’t blame the utopian genre for not being multicultural enough, but rather the lack of multicultural authorial representation.
America is no longer a majority of any particular culture. I, for example, have a half-Portuguese, half-Mexican father, and a mother who is a third Mexican, Native American and white. Yet, I consider my history to be tied with the predominant strands of “Western Civilization” because I am an American. Why do we still refer to “Western Civilization” as predominantly of European descent? I understand that there are other countries besides America, but my point is that so many people from those other countries are represented here in America that our views of “Western Civilization” needs to change. So many cultures are now apart of Western Civilization, and it’s high time we start including their voices in the study of utopian literature and of our history.
Objective 3H deals with this issue of whether utopian texts exemplify multiculturism or monoculturism. I believe that the desire for a better life, a utopian ideal, is universal. Therefore, I regard the genre of utopian literature to be an open forum for multicultural ideas. However, at this time, there are not many multicultural texts to study. The slave narrative of Harriet Jacobs and Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech are a few of the examples that we have to study different cultural experiences and ideas for creating utopian societies. These texts, however, are nonfiction and do not allow for readers to distance themselves from the harsh realities of life to be objective and thoughtful about how to go about creating those utopias. Many readers may not be able to see past their own guilt or prejudices in order to imagine a better world. That is why there is such a need for multicultural authorship within the utopian genre.
The minority narratives that we do have focus more on the oppression of their societies, and then hastily sketch out their ideas of utopia by hoping for their liberation. In Harriet Jacobs narrative, for example, she discusses how Dr. Flint desired her sexually and how she had to hide out in a shed’s garret for her own protection. Or in Dr. King’s speech, when he “dramatize[s the] shameful condition” of “the Negro … of American society”, and then describes his vision of a united and free America. These two pieces of literature are important to our history, but may not contribute or deepen our understanding of how blacks intend to create a better society.
I’ll never forget when one of the students in our class stated how learning history angered her. Perhaps utopian literature does need to separate itself from history by being fictional. Perhaps in order to learn from the mistakes of history, we need to create fictional utopian societies where those lessons have already been learned. Perhaps, a new template for utopian literature needs to be made. In a 2007 final exam, Jo Lynn Sallee argues that the lack of multiculturalism in utopian literature is due to the precedence set by Thomas More’s Utopia where “little or no reference to race or ethnicity” is ever mentioned. Not even in the more modern cyberpunk novel Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson does race ever really get discussed. As a matter of fact, characters in the novel create their own virtual selves when visiting the virtual world called Metaverse; so the question becomes: will people create themselves to be racially diverse or just wish to be considered unique individuals by having crazy hair or bigger anatomical parts?
Literature tends to reflect life. My original question of different races being capable of living together in harmony may only be answered when literature can better reflect how that society of different cultures will look. I still have hope that this will happen.
Julie Bollich
July 9, 2009
TOPIC B3: Utopian Curriculums
Public school curriculums have historically represented dystopian texts such as William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, George Orwell’s 1984, and Ayn Rand’s Anthem. The argument is that students are able to better identify with worlds filled with strife versus a utopian world. Also, dystopian literature is used to prepare students for an imperfect society with the hope that they will be prepared enough to improve society. Teachers are able to step aside and let students figure out ways of how to fix the problems in the dystopic societies they are reading about without the lessons being too didactic. Our world is more competitive than cooperative, which is why it is easier for students to identify with characters who are unhappy in utopian settings where individuality is not greatly stressed. Young students feel oppressed by the many rules placed upon them in schools and in society and strongly identify with the need to escape, which is the main objective for a character in a dystopic novel. For example, the protagonist of Anthem has an intellectual mind but is not allowed to use it because he has been assigned to work as a street sweeper. This character begins to rage against the societal constraints placed upon him and eventually escapes to a new world where he can make his own way. Dystopic literature honors heroic individuals on their journey of self-discovery. So why teach utopian literature?
In her 2007 exam, Tish Wallace argues for why students should read utopian texts.
Today, students are concerned with how school rules, politics and laws, freedom and equality, privileges, peers, sex, drugs, drinking, caretaking, neglect, isolation, etcetera affect their lives. Whenever students meet with resistance in the world they often say, “If it were up to me…” Students want to be able to be a part of the decision-making process so that they may ensure that their needs are met as well. Reading a utopian text allows students to be able to see what others, who have similar feelings, have done in order to address issues of perceived imperfections. Not only does utopian literature instruct students to address these issues of perceived imperfections, but it also teaches readers to have love for fellow man. The communities within these novels look out for one another and work towards a common goal of bettering their society.
Another good reason to teach utopian literature is that it is chock full of metaphors and analogies. In Looking Backward for example, Bellamy compares futuristic technology with descriptions of what the protagonist would understand in the past, such as the sidewalk coverings, which were explained to work in lieu of a private umbrella. “The private umbrella is Father’s favorite figure to illustrate the old way when everybody lived for himself and his family” (Bellamy 100). The female character Edith describes the sidewalk covering to the time traveler by using this analogy.
The difficulties of teaching utopian literature, such as “Utopias don’t work” or “Why are we talking about this?” and as stated in objective 5C, is almost nonexistent because discussions about a variety of topics and subjects are inevitable. Discussions over utopian literature branch into politics, economics, science, history, anthropology and many more and not ever in danger of stalling. Also, utopian literature is persuasive and teaches students rhetorical skills (Objective 1E). Many authors of this genre are activists, agitators, reformers, or visionaries (Objective 1D). Callenbach’s Ecotopia is a novel for society to think about the natural resources that are being wasted and a call for change to conserve them. This literature often parallels the issues currently facing society in reality and can help students understand the benefits of what these authors are advocating, but also, to help students recognize when someone is going to far in their attempts to create a “better world”. At this point, I’m specifically thinking about Jonestown and other cults that develop from this idea of creating a better world. It’s important to teach students how to differentiate between an extremist’s point of view and a utopian view. Students can learn from actual communities in our history that have formed, such as the Oneida community or Celebration, USA. Yes, some of these communities have failed, but just because many utopian communities have failed in reality does not keep people from learning from them.
Finally, utopian literature can instruct educators about bettering the educational system (Objective 5B). For example, in Gilman’s Herland, students were taught by the most qualified of educators and learned by playing games that were created by the teachers. In Looking Backward students follow their interests and are rigorously taught within those interests. Also, students were not forced to go to college if they didn’t want to, but were instead trained in a vocation of their choice. The society within the novel Ecotopia educated its students in survival techniques and how to respect nature. Close study of such texts can only benefit mankind and students need to see both sides of the utopian/dystopian spectrum.