Courtney Heintzelman

Utopia Literature Midterm

The first day of class I felt very out of place.  I did not think that I knew anything about utopian literature.  However, once the discussion went more in depth, I realized that I had a little background of this genre.  Although I recognized a few of the titles mentioned in class, I did not really know much about what characteristics of a novel make it a utopia.

            There are many characteristics to a utopian novel.  One characteristic is that they all contain images of gardens.  All of the novels that I have read in this class contain this imagery.  Another trait that the novels Utopia, Looking Backward, and Herland have in common is a love interest for the main character of the story.  A big parameter that these novels have in common is a reawakening.  Along the same premise of reawakenings is the millennial event.  Utopia and Herland bother have physical millennial events, while Looking Backward contained a more mental change.  Another common trait among utopian novels is of communal eating.  While people in utopias may have a kitchen in their home, they most often eat in a communal setting, with the rest of their community.  Also, there are no jails.  Typically there is no currency, only trade.  Lastly, manual labor is valued as much as intellectualism in utopian communities.

            Thomas More’s Utopia is known as the text that lends its name to the genre.  More’s word is considered a novel, even though the first official novel was not published for another 200 years after More’s text.  In fact, much of utopian literature is questioned on whether it classifies as a novel or not.  I believe that Utopia is a novel for several reasons.  These reasons include: it contains elements of Ciceronian oration, including pathos and egos, the descriptions of the city that Raphael gave, the symbolic names used, the back story of Peter, and the setting of the text. Another classic text, Looking Backward, can also be considered a novel.  Some of the reasons for this: the characters had feelings and the author explained their backgrounds, the plot is well explained, there is foretelling, conflict, and sharing/discussion in a narrative sense.  For many of the same reasons as Utopia and Looking Backward, Herland can be classified as a novel.

            One of the most reoccurring themes discussed in class is why the utopian genre is not prevalently taught in high schools.  I personally feel that it should be taught in the high school setting because of a few reasons.  First, if students like a subject they are more likely to get involved with their work.  Second when students are able to discuss ideas among their peers, they are more likely to be active in their schoolwork and more likely to retain the information they have learned.  Utopian literature can create excellent opportunities for these to happen.  Another positive thing about using the utopian genre for teaching is that it brings up other disciplines.  Economics, gender, history, politics, and architecture can be discussed coherently with utopian novels.  With utopia’s ability to teach cross curricula, it can help students analyze and think critically.  Also, the genre can be used to teach compare/contrast papers to students by analyzing utopias and dystopias.

            As I have come to learn in this class, Western civilization tends to focus on Dystopian literature.  Why is this?  After all, utopias encourage growth, while dystopias try to hinder growth.  The protagonists in dystopias tend to show nonconformity and making your own destiny.  Is this why individualistic societies prefer dystopias?  Is the focus on dystopias simply because it brings about more discussion than utopias?  Is it because, like in Anthem, conflict is easier seen in one person than in an entire society?  I will formulate my answer to this question by the end of class, after I have more experience with and knowledge of dystopias.