Ashley D. Wrenn

11 July 2015

Utopian Literature: Dipping Your Toes In

          As I have mentioned in my midterm, when I first entered this seminar, my knowledge of utopian literature was slim. I did not know what qualified a piece of literature to be categorized as utopian or dystopian. However, now that we are approaching the end of this class, I feel that I have significantly learned the themes and conventions that exist within a utopian / dystopian novel. I am confident in my ability to adequately understand future utopian literature and I am determined to read more utopian literature. I want to expand my familiarity with utopian / dystopian texts so that I may do it justice, so to speak, when I begin teaching. That being said, this essay will address my personal interests in the utopian genre, utopia as literature, and teaching utopia.

          Starting my upper level course work, it soon became clear to me the value that studying literature holds—to understand something better that we really do not understand. Literature teaches us so much about life and, more importantly, about ourselves as human beings. Every piece of literature that I have read so far (I still have a long way to go) has left me better than I was when I found it. I am glad that I arrived at utopian literature to close out my undergraduate coursework because this genre, even more so than all others, really speaks to how humanity functions. It sheds light on what works, and creates a fear of what can go wrong within our world. It has made me critically think about how all of our actions in this world have consequences—good and bad.

Reading Ayn Rand’s Anthem has made the biggest impact on me, partly because I think it scared me. It was a world of complete conformity. The people had no choice and no voice. There was no individualism and the characters even spoke without using the word, “I”—a word that Equality 7-2521 holds dear by the end of the novel. I always thought that the well-being of the entire population was of the upmost importance, until this novel showed me consequences of taking even a “good thing” too far.

          Although I have only dipped my toes into the utopian genre, that has been enough to inspire me to pursue the genre further. Especially after finishing Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, I am more interested than ever in what authors of the utopian genre are trying to share with readers. In Marisela M. Caylor’s 2013 final entitled, “Oryx and Crake: My Gateway into the World of Speculative Fiction,” she describes Oryx and Crake as “the perfect combination of all the novels we [have] read in the class and still maintains its place in Utopian Literature.” I agree with her because this novel was my favorite of all of our class texts. Atwood did an amazing job of intertwining so much that I will probably read it ten times and still discover something new! 

As we have said in class, utopian authors write in order to call attention to problems that they see in society during their lifetime. So, I am interested in exploring more utopian texts and delving into their concerns in regards to the time period that they were written. I am looking forward to completing Margaret Atwood’s series and plan to then move on to Toni Morrison’s Paradise. I want to really test my ability to pull timely concerns out of the text and learn about the historical dilemmas it poses. One dilemma I have with this is that while the novels we have read do a great job of revealing how functional or dysfunctional a society is, what it does not reveal is how to actually fix the problem or if there is a way to fix it. I am interested to see if what I read in the future poses an answer to my question.

          It is because of all that I have learned, so far, that I deem this genre a necessary subject to be taught in school. I think that young adults will find value in this genre because they question the world in which they live. Critical thinking is a huge part of the public school’s TEKS, and I believe that the core of the utopian / dystopian genre is learning to critically think about society. One of the risks that teaching utopian literature poses is the significant amount of tract it contains. Students may become bored and lose interest in the topic. However, the value of this genre comes after the initial reading and can be found within class discussion. Especially because some of the topics that come up during discussion include religion, economics, and history—all of which can be interesting to young adults who are just beginning to form their own opinions and beliefs. However, what I feel will work best of all for young adults is introducing them to Speculative Fiction. It does not contain the tedious tract-passages that classic utopian literature does, but it still contains the basic conventions of what makes a utopian novel Utopian. I like the way our class explored classic utopian novels, dystopian novels, and Speculative Fiction. Being that I want to teach at the college level, if I ever teach a Utopian Literature course, I will use this method to make sure that all of my students get a chance to explore all possibilities and essentially “dip their toes in.”         

          Overall, my time in this class has given me the opportunity to really reflect on myself as a human being, a woman, and a young adult in society. It has taught me to look further than myself and into the issues that the world has today, but also appreciate the things that we are doing right. Now that I think of it, although this genre does not offer definite ways to solve the world’s problems, I do not think that it was ever meant to. Instead, I think the usefulness of this genre lies in its ability to make us critically think about the world, but leaves the action to change it is up to us.