Jenna Zucha

Essay II: Utopian Literature as a Platform for Hope

Utopian literature, if anything, is a vehicle for hope and progress. Utopian ideals are apparent in The Declaration of Independence in which the Founding Fathers hoped for a nation bound by “truths… that all men are created equal.” Martin Luther King dreamed of a nation joined together where all men “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” In both documents the dream is ever imminent but never fully realized, yet the idea remains important. This genre is vital to education on the secondary and collegiate level because it provides platforms for discussion in History, economics, politics, psychology, and social studies (Objective 4a) while inviting critical thought into how these ideas and concepts are communicated. Valerie Fournier provides an alternative purpose for utopian thought in her essay “Utopianism and the cultivation of possibilities.” She explains that “utopianism is not a blueprint for a ‘perfect society,’ but may be better conceptualized as a movement of hope” (192). This falls into Objective 5C in reference to ways of avoiding the standard idea that utopias “just don’t work,” so what is the point in reading about them? Utopian and dystopian literatures are different, but both serve a similar purpose: to excite change and progress within the community. Utopian literature inspires through a preconceived vision of good while the dystopian narrative inspires change through conflict and transformation.

My first research posting for this seminar focused on the rise of dystopian literature in the young adult community and its impact on secondary curriculum. My investigation into this phenomenon showed that the appeal behind dystopian literature for young people might also serve as its strongest educational selling point. The primary text used here to highlight the attractions of dystopian literature is Anthem by Ayn Rand because it combines utopian and dystopian elements, and it is currently used in secondary education. Young readers crave a hero they can relate to and the dystopian protagonist meets this desire on several levels. The dystopian hero is an outsider to the community; he or she is different in a way that separates them from the in-group. The protagonist in Anthem attempts to follow the norms established by the utopian society, but he knows that he is different from everyone else physically and mentally: “we alone who were born with a curse. For we are not like our brothers” (15). Young people can make strong connections to this because they are struggling with identity and a need to fit in. Another aspect of the dystopian hero that appeals to the younger audience is the conflict with authority. In Anthem Equality 7-2521 wants to please authority and gain acceptance “we shall go to this Council and we shall lay before them, as our gift, the glass box with the power of the sky” (65), but at the same time he wants the freedom to think, progress, and make choices on his own: “we think that the council of Scholars is blind. The secrets of this earth are not for all men to see, but only for those who will seek them” (54). The growth and transformation of the dystopian hero appeals to a young audience because they too are in a time of transformation.

Young readers are not only drawn to dystopian texts because they can relate to the characters, but they also gravitate towards a world that is completely different from their own with endless possibilities. This goes far beyond the escapist theory attached to Fantasy and Science Fiction within YA literature. The dystopian text creates a world of speculation where the reader can conceptualize possibilities within the safety-net of fiction. The rise of utopian and dystopian literature may be serving a greater need for our youth. It serves as a means to evaluate teaching and learning methods in which the instructor and students exchange standard knowledge and new contexts or applications (Objective 5D). This “speculative fiction” has fused the ground between fantasy and realism and is allowing the adolescent reader to explore worlds completely different from their own without sacrificing the issues troubling us all.

Utopian and dystopian literature is influential to education because “it is about establishing the conditions for the development of alternatives” (Fournier 192). Utopian literature is ineffective if it is approached as a means to an end. Readers of utopian literature should be inspired by the idea and not scrutinize the impossibility of one person’s design over another’s. The author of The Dispossessed, Ursula Le Guin, comments on a critical review of her narrative and the criticism surrounding the end of the book, “The circle is open. The doors are open. In order to have doors open, you have to have a house” (308). The author provides a framework for the audience to expound upon. Applying utopian and dystopian text to the secondary interdisciplinary curriculum and college level creates an outlet for social debate “by creating public spaces and channels through which ideas, possibilities and hopes can circulate” (Fournier 210). This genre meets several educational needs for progress and transformation while providing a framework for a possibly great story.

Works Cited

Fournier, Valerie. “Utopianism and the cultivation of possibilities: grassroots movements of hope.“ Utopia and Organization. Ed. Martin Parker. The Sociological Review. UK: Blackwell Publishing, 2002. 189-216. Print

Le Guin, K. Ursula. “A Response, by Ansible, from Tau Ceti.” The New Utopian Politics of Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed. Ed. Laurence Davis and Peter Stillman: Lexington Books, 2005. 306-209. Print