Arnecia Harris

03/08/2019

Analyzing the Course Readings

This course has provided an interesting journey for me as a new literary student. After jumping in feet first in the first half of the course and semi-drowning in the process, I had to do some self-reflection. I did my best to pull it together to gain a better understanding of what the course was about and get a true understanding of what the professor’s goals were for the course.

The first step was reading the course materials with a Utopian perspective. With full disclosure, that was not always accomplished. My ability to read the material in totality, but applying the utopian viewpoint was not always successful. The books were always solid reads and I could enjoy them from a fiction standpoint, but it was always hard to look at it from a Utopian perspective. 

The books we covered in the second half of the semester don’t seem to fit the literary fiction narrative as serious fiction” or offer “political criticism.” It has been acknowledged that neither The Dispossessed, The Handmaids Tale, or Oryx and Crake fall cleanly under the categories of utopian or dystopian literature, but primarily as fictional novels. Each book displayed novel conventions, such as providing a journey, conflict, transformation, and/or a resolution. These books are novels with several different characters living in worlds that are seemingly based on a utopian society. In reading these books, a reader can visualize the goal for a utopian society while understanding that the goal was not reached within the pages of the book.  

Utopia as Literature and Personal/Professional interests

In my midterm essay, I wrote about my journey as a first-year literature student exploring Utopia. I would like to acknowledge that my previous assertions were dismissive and unintentionally disrespectful to the professor. While many of the things I noted in my previous essay can still apply, I did want to acknowledge that my understanding of utopia and utopian literature grew as the class continued. Along with that understanding, came a better appreciation of the type of material we were tasked with reading for the remainder of the course.

Utopia is not always about the perfect society, but a vision of a society that offers certain things with the goal of achieving perpetual happiness and/or satisfaction. The ability to create a utopian narrative based on an author’s vision of a utopian society has brought more meaning to these types of literary pieces. I noted in my midterm about needing an appreciation of the author’s journey in creating their utopia. That opinion has since changed to not only acknowledge the author’s journey to their utopia, but the actual utopia created out of the author’s imagination.

Based on the readings assigned in this class, I have found that it is much easier to create a utopia out of one’s imagination than it is to plan and develop one in reality. In an interview with Thomas Rogers, JC Hillman, author of In Utopia, actually gave a pretty good overview of what are now being called "Intentional Communities" and why so many have failed. Hillman’s quote, "The vision doesn't always live up to its promise," because “utopias tend to slip away from their visions,” also speaks to why there's so much cynicism towards these types of communities.

Hillman’s quote regarding why these utopian communities fail is simple and yet explains so much. "You don't always get it right the first time." Therefore, you have to be willing to evolve in your utopian vision, in addition to trying to change the people of the utopian community’s outlook and adjust to the changing world in order to thrive. Because in many cases, you don't get a second chance to rebuild.

In my second research post, I noted how Floyd McKissack embarked on a journey to build an African American utopian community called Soul City in North Carolina. Mckissack had the backing of the federal government and several important backers. His refusal to acknowledge the criticisms he was receiving along with adjusting and modifying his approach to creating Soul City were very big reasons why the city failed. But the main reason his utopian venture failed is because he missed on one important piece by not having corporations come to the town as an employer. He had a very noble vision for the community and how the community would live, but he never laid the proper economic foundation for the community to thrive. Therefore, McKissack’s name was added to a long list of people who have attempted to create a utopia and failed.

These failures unfortunately provide real life examples of what a utopian society could be had they survived. With hindsight, it’s easy to see how they all have failed for one reason or another.

 Web Highlights

When preparing to write a new essay, my approach has always been to try to find something “different” to explore. In my previous essays, I was looking to explore dystopian literature, sixties utopia, and African-American utopias. In this portion of the assignment, it was important to review pieces that provided a deeper meaning for utopia and utopian literature.

In reviewing the model assignments for this portion of the assignment, I came across Katie Raney’s “Return to Eden and Native American Roots.” Raney’s intent was to explore how nature is portrayed due to utopians gravitating to restoring the earth. Raney’s ability to provide biblical scripture to establish her point about how “utopian society emphasizes the earth’s return to perfection” was actually interesting. I would never have tied utopia or dystopia to the Book of Genesis, but that first quote “The Lord creates a verdant, thriving garden in which He looks around and states, “it [is] very good” (Genesis 1:31), establishes the Utopian viewpoint immediately. Then Raney follows it up with a dystopian viewpoint “As a part of the punishment that Adam and Eve assent for their sins, the earth loses this natural ability to thrive on its own (Genesis 3:17-18).”

Those two lines perfect depict what I originally thought of utopia and utopian literature. Utopia was about hope and perfection and everyone living in harmony. My early cynicism could not appreciate utopian literature. Having said that, Jenna Zucha in her 2011 Final Exam, actually made a very good point in asserting that “Utopian literature is a vehicle for hope.” Zuccha’s primary examples include the Declaration of Independence and Martin Luther King Jr’s “Dream” speech were necessary in changing the narratives like mine, which were “utopias don’t work.”

Zucha’s theory was that utopia was a “cultivation of possibilities” and necessary for educators when teaching young adults. In that opinion, I do agree. In my midterm, I attempted to discuss why young adults gravitated towards dystopian literature. The primary reason was that young adult readers found dystopian literature to be more relatable because of the escapism often found in dystopian liteature. Utopian literary characters have not always proven to be relatable to young adult readers. However, Teenagers and young adults need more utopian type literature to create a more positive outlook as they grew into adulthood.

Works Cited

Atwood, Margaret. Oryx and Crake. New York: Random House, 2003. 3-374. Print.

Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. New York: Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, 1998. Print.

Le Guin, Ursula K.. The Dispossessed. HarperCollins e-books; Reprint edition. 2009.

Raney, Katie. A Return to Eden and Native American Roots: Common Themes in Multicultural Utopias. http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/LITR/5439utopia/models/finals/f11/f11E1Raney.html

Sasser, Amy L. Translating My Personal Interests into Useful Information for the Seminar. 2013. http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/LITR/5439utopia/models/resposts/2013/13p2/rp2Sasser.htm

Zucha, Jenna. Essay II: Utopian Literature as a Platform for Hope. 2011.
http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/LITR/5439utopia/models/finals/f11/f11E2Zucha.html