Jan Smith

Utopia as Literature: Utopia 101

Dystopian literature is hot at the moment, especially with young adults. I personally believe the fascination with any type of literature stems from a well-developed plot. Both teenagers and adults alike love a good read. Many of novels I read for this class used character development, along with other utopian conventions, as a way of defining the genre. Through the use of a cohesive network of themes, the literature is drawn together. As the network develops it can lead to insights and discussions about societal beliefs and social concerns. The book selections in the seminar provided a wide range of topics for discussion in class. And the class, in and of itself, was never dull. What I’ve come to understand this semester is that Utopia is a complicated genre with many parts. Yet each part is critical to understand how the genre functions as a whole.  

Literary and Historical

After reading Gillman’s Herland, the contrast between Historical Utopia (More) and Literary Utopia became apparent. While both forms contain informative texts, better known as the Literature of ideas, Herland uses the characters reflective thinking to deliver information. We see the full humanity and diversity, of Herland, through the eyes of the male counterparts. Through carefully orchestrated dialogue between the men and women, Gillman provides the reader with information relative to the feminist utopia. This convention is referred to in Utopian text as Socratic dialogue. It normally involves a host that moves through the setting while explaining the utopia to a visitor. More’s Utopia, also uses Socratic dialogue, but it only occurs at the beginning of the story. Once the dialogue between the men stops, the reading sounds more like a lecture than a discussion. –a classic Utopian convention. Once the class was able to distinguish between Literary and Historical Utopia, most of us preferred literary narratives because they were more engaging and entertaining. The blending of information into the conversations breaks up text and makes it easier to understand. Plus you get the added benefit of character development. As the character progresses, the reader processes information. This works out nicely.

Conventions

All Utopian novels share core elements that connect the works together. These attributes are called conventions. A few of these have already been covered in the last paragraph. Socratic dialogue and Literature of ideas are examples of Utopian conventions. The word conventions covers a wide range of ideas that refers to both concrete and abstract constructs. For example, all Utopias represent a place apart or a society isolated from the rest of the world. In the book Ecotopia, Oregon, Washington, and California have succeeded from the United States in an attempt to form a stable-state that exists in harmony with nature. The women of Herland have survived a massive earthquake and managed to stabilize themselves away from the rest of the world by creating a garden-like paradise. And In Oryx and Crake, scientist live in isolated compounds, away from the competition, to keep their scientific studies top secret. All these Utopias use the isolated setting as a convention. While this convention is obvious to the reader, some conventions serve a more subtle purpose. Take for instance the clothing in Herland. It is plain, without ornament or design. Functional clothing is also part of the society in Anthem. All characters belong to a specific home. Their slacks and shirts reflect the house with which they are identified. This is a very concrete convention. On a deeper level, the clothing in Herland reflects a society that is more simplistic and less materialistic. The clothing in Anthem is a symbol of conformity and control. In this case the convention was consistent between the novels, but its implication were not. This is something for discussion in the next paragraph about dystopias and utopias. Interestingly the word utopia is Greek means “good place”.  I take that to mean that each one of these Utopian societies begins as a good place. At its conception, it is pure.  Whether it optimizes or not, depends on the society.   

Dystopia or Utopia

Regardless of the genre, I continue to see conventions surfacing in different forms of literature. Shared conventions is common in Utopian books. As stated earlier, two novels can share a convention like clothing, but the clothing can symbolize different ideals. In other words, the author uses the idea of clothing to give you an indication of societal beliefs or how the society has gone wrong. It is the implications associated with a particular convention that helps the reader to determine whether the book is Dystopian or Utopian. 

Dystopian novels most always show a world that has gone wrong. Society begins to malfunction and you see the Utopia decline. With decline comes the passing away of the old system to make way for a new society. This is a fundamental dystopian plot.  The decline of society is usually developed through the use of a character struggle. As the character struggles, the reader encounters the problems. Some of the most common conventions for Dystopian literature are pain and punishment. Society in Ayn Rand’s Anthem cuts a man’s tongue out and burns him alive for “speaking the Unspeakable Word” (49). In this society, conformity to rules is imperative. This instance reminds me of a similar situation from Oryx and Crake. When an employee tried to steal scientific secrets from the company she “[was] spray gunned at once and neutralized in a vat of bleach” (Atwood 53). Sharing company secrets is deadly. Pain and punishment indicate that society has gone wrong. The convention is proof that these Dystopias will punish anyone, even kill them, to keep the society under control. That convention is common in dystopian literature. As I stated earlier, the more I read, the more conventions of utopian texts I see blending with other forms of literature.  There are numerous other conventions to be analyzed here, but the Utopia is a bit easier to interpret.

Utopia is a systemic concept. On a very basic level, it is a system comprised of many parts. The parts can be defined as ideals, morays, attitudes, etc. Ecotopia by Callenbach is an example of such a system. Unlike a Dystopia, this system is in good working order. And all of the “parts” work together for the greater good of society. Ecotopians seek to create an earth-friendly environment where nature rules everything. Their job is to maintain control of production and consumption to where it has little if no impact on the earth. So if everything works, how can the narrative develop? The plot in this Literary Utopia does involve conflict, but not with a society gone wrong. The conflict within a utopian novel is the “conflict of conversion”. The main character is struggling to adapt to his new surroundings. In Dystopian texts, the protagonist struggles with society and in Utopian texts the protagonist struggles with himself. This particular convention not only helps the reader understand how the entire system works, it keeps the reader engaged through plot development. Of all the characters I watched struggle in Utopian literature, Van stands out the most. In Herland he is able to appreciate all the systems, accept the attitudes and keep an open mind with respect to himself and his wife. In the end, he is fully converted and the Utopia stays intact without interruption. Utopia texts can have as much excitement as dystopian texts as long as the plot is well written.

As I continue my work with utopian texts, I have noticed that as soon as I think I understand the author’s use of a convention, I read another book and that convention is used in a completely different way. The good thing about that is my mind expands, which leads me to conclude that while utopian literature may share conventions, the implications will never be exactly the same in any given book. Therefore I conclude that utopian novels are just like fingerprints; no two texts are exactly the same. Keeping that in mind the more books I read, the more expansive my knowledge base becomes. And that is a comforting thought.

Works Cited

Atwood, Margaret. Oryx and Crake. New York: Anchor Books, 2004.

Callenback, Ernest. Ecotopia. Berkeley, CA; Banyan Tree Books, 1975, 2004.

Coronado, Sarah. “Human Progression in Utopian and Dystopian Literature.” UHCL, 2011. Web. 25 June.

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. Herland. New York: Dover Publications Inc, 1998. Kindle   file. 

More, Thomas. Utopia.   Online Texts for Craig White's Literature Courses. 1 July, 2013

Rand, Ayn. Anthem. (1938) Literary and Historical Utopias Website for Dr. Craig White.  http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/texts/UtopTexts/anthem.htm