LITR 5439 Literary & Historical Utopias
Midterm Submission 2009
Kathleen Breaux
24 June 2009
Utopia: Ever in Sight, Ever Out of Reach
From purple mountain majesties to the staircase skyline of the city, from amber waves of grain to the paved sidewalks of suburbia, America is the land of opportunity, the land of prosperity, and most notably, the land of the free. A tourist trek down one city block might reveal a Baptist church, a Muslim temple, and a celebrity-ridden Scientology center, all splitting rent in a multi-purpose strip mall. We have the privilege of electing our own leaders and the right to protest in the streets when they break the promises that were made to earn our loyalty. We are free to worship, vote, work, speak, and dress however we choose. No authority can tell us what to learn, where to work, who to marry, or even to do any of these at all; we can live in a luxury high-rise or under a bridge, and the paths that lead to both of these dwellings are ours to pave. Complete and total freedom to be who we want to be, to accomplish what we so choose, and a land so rich and vast with opportunity to make room for everyone to manifest his or her own greatness—is it utopia, or is it a trap set by the looming possibility of perfection?
A traditional definition of utopia, expressed in both literature and practice, is that of “a place of ideal perfection especially in laws, government, and social conditions” (Utopia). Under these provisions one might immediately assume that the great land of the free in which we are so fortunate to preside encompasses all that is utopian by definitive standards. American laws, government, and social standards are implemented to hold fast to the self-evident truth that all men were created equal, and in this light America would seem to embody this loosely outlined definition of utopia. However, there is one glaring word in this traditional definition that is decidedly objective, and thus, raises the question of whether there is one true definition of utopia at all.
Perfection—a word so powerful that the most widely practiced religion worldwide refuses to attribute it to any being apart from God. And while Christianity initially paired this word with divinity, the progression of language has dulled its meaning down to attributes of cliches. If pasta can be the perfect consistency, if water in a swimming pool can be the perfect temperature, if the Kennel Club can dub a canine to boast the perfect stance, why should we not be able to achieve perfection ourselves? This is, after all, the premise upon which America was founded—the freedom to achieve whatever we so choose, and the boundless expanse of terrain and opportunity to manifest our own individual destinies, our own perfection.
This gleaming emblem of perfection is the driving force of both utopian and dystopian literature, either to convey its achievement and functionality or to prove that it is ultimately unattainable. As we study this literary genre which has played so persistent a role in Western Civilization and education, we must relate the successes and failures found on the page to invoke a question with regard to ourselves. We so easily label the character flaws of our fictional friends and foes in their search for perfection, yet we hesitate to ask the same questions of ourselves: What drives us? For what are we searching, and why? And, at what point will we rest?
We are products of our American culture, and thus, the red, white, and blue way of thinking on which we were raised has imbedded in us an eternal reach for something more. We teach our children, generation after generation, every cliché of endless possibilities and limitless boundaries so that they will make the most of their citizenship in the land of Mother Freedom’s chosen people. Our utopia, then, exists just beyond the horizon—ever in sight, ever out of reach. Even the most stalwart of utopic explorers among us must eventually come to terms with the realization that this utopia will never rest warmly in the grasp of our fingertips. Perfection will always exist in the distance ahead, a gleaming symbol of motivation that morphs and skips forth with each achievement. For the boy that started working as a mail clerk may eventually have a corner office on the top floor, but the foggy view of a mountain in the distance will rest just outside his window.
This realization, though, should not keep us from marching forth in search of whatever individual stepping stones we have set out for our paths to perfection. The unattainable is what keeps us going, it is what keeps us living. The human experience is a roller-coaster ride in discovering our own versatility; it is a journey of delighting in how many different ways we can fall. If societal utopia or individual perfection were feasible, there would be no reason to surge forth in search of it; for the definition of such implies limits, and human nature refuses to let us reach toward an ambition that can be bound. Perhaps, then, we should redefine utopia not as a place, but as a way of being. If we choose to revel in the flaws of each individual, we can find perfection in the imperfections that make us human. Utopia redefined, then, is the understanding that utopian society can never be achieved, nor can individual perfection, but it is the pursuit of an intangible horizon that makes a life of purpose.
This pursuit of a life of purpose rings throughout utopian literature, as does the transfer of utopic thought and understanding from the society to the individual. Whether a novel is utopian or dystopian, the intent may be for the support or critique of a perfect society, but the demand for a story inevitably shifts to the individual and the struggle for humanity’s rise within the confined and dictated conditions of utopia. Course Objective 2A, which focuses on what kinds of stories arise from or fit with the attempt to describe an ideal or dystopian community, is answered by that of the individual struggle. Ayn Rand’s Anthem most stalwartly portrays this condition of utopian literature with Equality’s inner conflict—the curse that drives him toward thoughts that are forbidden. This curse represents the desire for individualism, the desire for singular and free pursuits that drives him “step by step to [his] last, supreme transgression” (Rand 20). Anthem, while a dystopian novel, encompasses this new definition of utopia as a way of being. In order to pursue the intangible horizon found in the Uncharted Forest and the lines of books from the times before the Great Rebirth, Equality must flee the confines of societal utopia and manifest his own destiny.
This natural human desire to pave one’s own fate helps to answer Course Objective 2A, which questions what defines the literary genre of utopias, and what elements and difficulties repeatedly appear. This inherent human desire to be individual is the most prevalent conflict in utopian literature, but it segues to other chords of friction that provide the conventions of the utopian genre, such as the element of relationships between men and women. While standards such as gardens, millennial events, and communal dining arise with variation in utopian literature, the element of relationships, particularly marital or eternal unions, are most relevant in studying the difficulties that arise in literary utopias.
The intent of utopian society is to create a place of perfect equality for all members who work toward the communal goals of the society as a whole, without regard for individual pursuits. Thus, the instinctive desire of humans to unite and procreate poses a threat to the utopian society’s sustenance, as this attraction and procreation will lead to individual loyalties of people to their families, rather than to the communal society. Even utopian and dystopian literature cannot create a story that is ignorant to this element of human nature. And while novels such as Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Herland and Thomas More’s Utopia do not completely attempt to disqualify human relationships as in Anthem, they do represent the utopian condition of the control of these relationships.
In utopian literature, marriages are not decided upon based on trust and human life is not created out of love. Relationships, marriage, and procreation are implemented as tools for the sustenance of the society, rather than gratification for the human instinct and experience. This is indicative of the utopian society’s struggle to fight against and control the human desire to give and receive love that runs through our veins as swiftly as our desire to manifest our own individual destinies. If members of a utopian society were permitted to engage in their own relationships, driven by emotion and chosen of free will, then separate family units and, thus, separate loyalties would ensue. “Unlike the nuclear model so prevalent in Western society, its utopian counter-part reflects a model in which traditional practices have been altered to create a more expansive, communal system of parenting” (Hopkins). Utopian literature struggles to not only control the human’s desire for individualism, but also the human’s desire to love and to procreate. This attempt to constrain the very core elements of humankind can only result in the eventual fall of utopian society and the revelation of inherent humanity.
While utopian literature and its insistence on efforts toward communal sustenance can help to coax us off of our often too ego-centric existences, the struggle for humanistic desires of individualism and personal relationships are too compressed to make utopias functional. Let us, rather, utilize them to remind us of the ever-available and blessedly unattainable horizon of perfection that exists in our midst, but just beyond our grasp. Let us keep our individual pursuits, and remember that “to know oneself is to disbelieve utopia” (Novak).
Works Cited
Hopkins, Yvonne. “The Elusive Concept of Utopia.” LITR 5737: Literary and
Historical Utopias. 18 June 2007. 24 June 2009. <http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/
HSH/Whitec/LITR/5439utopia>
Novak, Michael. “Michael Novak Quotes.” ThinkExist.com. 24 June 2009. <http://
thinkexist.com/quotes/michael_novak>
Rand, Ayn. Anthem. New York: Penguin Putnam Inc., 1961.
“Utopia.” 24 June 2009. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/utopia>