LITR 5737: Literary & Historical Utopias
Final Exam Submission 2007
Ruth Pilarte
July 3, 2007
Topic A1
The Purpose of Utopian Literature
Utopian literature exposes society’s longing for community, justice, and equality. It also enables readers to reflect on individual selfishness and what we can all accomplish if we placed our neighbor’s needs before ours. While utopian literature is very educational, tackling on political, gender, family, and societal issues, it is not without its flaws. Minimal plot and lack of characterization frustrate the reader’s demand for a story.
Utopian literature illustrates and reveals the ideals that utopians have for society. Through this type of literature, we get a broad understanding of groups of people and societies that are striving for harmony, peace, and equality among everyone. One thing learned from reading this type of fiction is the importance of unity and teamwork in a utopian world. In order for there to be equality among all and for poverty to cease, everyone must contribute to society and also have the same ideals in mind. More’s book, Utopia, states, “Agriculture is the one occupation at which everyone works, men and women alike, with no exceptions. They are trained in it from childhood, partly in the schools where they learn theory, and partly through field instruction. On these trips they not only watch the work being done, but frequently pitch in and get a workout by doing the jobs themselves” (36). While other literary forms focus on the individual’s needs and wants, utopian literature teaches us about the needs of a collective society.
The book Ecotopia is an excellent illustration of people working together for the benefit of communities instead of the self. In Ecotopia people have given up excess riches for the benefit of the economy. As the text states, “The workers in an Ecotopian enterprise must now all be partners, a man cannot just set up a business, offer wages to employees, fire them when he needs them , and pocket whatever profits he can make” (99). In order to demolish poverty, the people of Ecotopia sacrifice and strip themselves of any excess material wealth.
Some of the frustrations experienced with reading utopian literature are due to its didactic nature. Utopian authors are placed in a position where their readers can become easily frustrated due to the long entries of urban planning, and social reform. At the same time, the thorough explanation of how a utopian society works is needed in order for the audience to feel that this type of society is reachable and effective. However, the “literature” aspect is crucial in utopian texts. Even though storylines are minimal in utopian texts, their presence serves as a breather and is refreshing to the audience. It is also important because societal issues are exposed and studied in a non-confrontational manner, allowing for the reader to feel more at ease than they would by reading political articles, trying to push for their agendas.
The question, of how well does ‘utopian literature” work as literary art is a very difficult one to answer. Some texts, such as Herland and Ecotopia do a fairly good job in bridging in fictional elements to non-fiction. However, the text Looking Backward, does a very weak job in keeping the reader entertained and balancing political speeches with fictional storylines. As Matt Mayo states in his 2005 final exam, “While being full of interesting and intriguing ideas, Looking Backward simply lacks plot. This primarily arises from the utopian narratives resistance to plot and characterization, since there is no strife in utopia, and due to complete equality, people are more or less the same” (p.4). This holds true to most utopian texts. The fact that all characters hold the same political views and lifestyles makes it difficult for the author to introduce any deviant characters who will stand out.
Utopian studies can be considered a field where literary dreams meet practical realities in some instances. Although most utopias fail, we have seen some examples of utopian living that has prevailed among the years. 0ne example of this is the Amish community. Like the characters from Ecotopia, the Amish have a religious set of beliefs that the community follow as a whole. Also, they all contribute to the workforce, taking care of one another while rejecting technology that they feel will threaten their community. So while many of the practices of utopian literature seem a little far-fetched, there are some ideas that one can see in real life utopian communities.
Although there are some definite problems with utopian literature, one can not deny its importance and impact on educating readers of the social issues that plague our society and humanity’s attempt and longing for a perfect world system.
Topic B3c.
Reading utopian literature such as Ecotopia is refreshing and a little bit of a guilty pleasure due to its fantasy, unrealistic storyline. Ecotopia is an example of how many of us would want the world to be, a safe place full of harmony and peace, but unfortunately this type of life does not exist. In Ecotopia and Looking Backward, we are introduced to a society that has pretty much given up their individualistic goals and desires in order to benefit their group as a whole. For example, the whole episode with Ruth and the unhappy customer in Ecotopia would never happen in reality. The idea of customers at a restaurant leaving their food behind in order to help out the employees is something that has only been seen in the fictional world.
We see a second example of utopian literature being a guilty pleasure in Looking Backward. The idea that everyone is treated equally regardless of race, gender, and class is appealing to many unfortunately due to the fact that this doesn’t exist. Many would love to live in a society where they no longer have to worry about finances and discrimination. Bellamy states in his text, “No man any more has any care for the morrow, either for himself, or his children, for the nation guarantees the nurture, education, and comfortable maintenance of every citizen from the cradle to the grave” (85). Who would not want to read about a place where equality exists and problems disappear?
At the same time, continuous readings of a place where there is no strife or struggle can become a bit dull. Part of what makes literature so interesting is the way it captures the human struggle to overcome obstacles and ordeals. Unfortunately most of us can not relate to utopian literature characters because of his or her lack of understanding of what it feels like to be discriminated against, or struggling to overcome poverty. These are some examples of the frustrations that arise from reading and studying utopian literature.
As a whole, utopian literature measures up to the quality of literature that would be expected in a graduate course. The long didactic literature can lose many of those who do not have a passion to study and analyze all types of literature. This type of literature is typically only read by those who have the discipline and will power to read literary texts with minimum entertaining. Many of the passages also require a careful read in order to truly understand some of the political issues that arise in utopian literature. For this reason I feel that Utopian literature deserves its spot In graduate courses.