LITR 5439 Literary & Historical Utopias

 Research Posting 2009

Bridget Yvette Brantley

Mormonism and the Utopian Society

            In April of 1989, I got married and moved to Ogden Utah with my husband, who worked for the federal government.  I immediately noticed the physical beauty of this state at the very beginning.  Everything was green.  The air was clear, and it was clean.  The stores were so well organized, and the restaurants always looked as if they were swept and mopped right before we entered them.  In 1990, my son was born at McKay Dee Hospital, which is located in Ogden, Utah.  Unexpectedly, Niles came two and a half months early.  He weighed 1lb. and 15 ounces. So this was a very scary time in my life. Fortunately, he was born at one of the best neonatal facilities in the country.  I  did not know this at the time. I learned that Thomas Dee Hospital was founded in 1910 by Annie Taylor Dee.  Thomas Duncombe Dee was born in Llaneli, Carmarthenshire, South Wales, on November 10, 1844.  His father and mother were converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints, and they moved to the United States in 1850.  I was told by my husband that this was a Mormon hospital. I did not know anything about the Mormon people, so I did not form any prejudices about them.  I just wanted my child to be okay.  As time progressed, he got better. The doctors and nurses in this hospital took excellent care of our son. He was assigned his own neonatal doctor and nurse around the clock, and if for some reason we did not feel comfortable with a particular nurse, the hospital would assign him another one.  They made us feel special at all times. In Sir Thomas More’s novel, Utopia, he describes the hospitals as perfect places.  The hospitals are furnished and stored with all things that are convenient for the ease and recovery of the sick; and those that are put in them are looked after with such tender and watchful care, and are so constantly attended by their skill physicians (19). My son received treatment such as this at McKay Dee Hospital.  He stayed in the hospital for sixty-one days; he came home a healthy little boy.  When Niles turned eleven years old, we took him back to the hospital, so the nurses could see his progress.  They were happy to see him, and they had a picture of him on a huge wall along with all the other babies they had cared for. I couldn’t help but see this hospital as having a utopian characteristic.  Who are the Mormon people?  What do they believe? Do Mormon people have characteristics similar to those who live in a utopian society? These are some of the questions that I will try to answer.

            What is Mormonism?  Mormonism is known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  The church was founded in 1830 by leader, Joseph Smith Jr., who believed God had given him a special message.  The message was that he should not become a member of any church because they were all incorrect and Christian doctrine was an abomination.  Here are a few ideas I learned about this organization.

  • The Mormon Church has one leader, who is considered a prophet.
  • The Mormon Church claims about 11 million baptized members worldwide.
  • The total church assets exceed thirty billion dollars.
  • Clean-cut image
  • They are forbidden to drink coffee, tea, and alcoholic beverages, and the use of tobacco products.

            Mormons place strong emphasis on family as the basic unit of the church and society.  Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another. A genuine sense of community is important in the utopian society.   In Charlotte Perkin Gilman’s novel, Herland, the social structure was based on community and cooperation.  Sacrifice for the greater good of everyone is also central to the utopian society. In the Mormon Church, income goes to operate an elaborate internal welfare system, so its members avoid government assistance.  This is an example of  real community among members.  In Herland, mothers taught family values to their children. But very early they recognized the need of improvement as well as mere repetition, and devoted their combined intelligence to that problem-how to make the best kind of people.  First this was merely the hope of bearing better ones, and then they recognized the children differed at birth, the real growth lay later through education (59).

Today, Mormons achieve an educational level that is higher than the national average.

            What is co-housing?  Co-housing is a type of collaborative housing in which residents participate in the design and operation of their community.  A project, which is located in Utah, has many of the traits of a utopian society.  The Utah Valley Commons is a co-housing village currently in Utah.  This community is very much similar to a utopian society.  In this community, neighbors live harmoniously with one another.  The houses are eco-friendly.  Also, much of the food is organically grown by the community.  This community is also called an eco-village.  Eco-villages are socially, economically, and ecologically sustainable intentional communities.  These planned communities have a population of fifty to one hundred and fifty members. They consist of forty to fifty households.  Another characteristic is the communities share their lives. Everyone works together. Part of the community’s goal is to build the community on land that is rich and fertile with sufficient water resource for household and gardening needs. The land is in no way contaminated with toxic chemicals.  Inhabitants prefer that property is “raw.” 

Works Cited

"McKay-Dee Hospital Center." Intermountain Healthcare. 2009. 20 June 2009

<http://intermountainhealthcare.org/HOSPITALS/MCKAYDEE/>.

"Mormonism: Christian or Cult?" rapidnet.com. Mar. 2003. 20 Jun 2009

<http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Cults/mormon.htm>.

"The Family: A Proclamation to the World." The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day

 Saints. 2009. LDS Organization. 21 Jun 2009 <http://www.lds.org>.

"What is cohousing? / what’s an ecovillage?"  Utah Valley Commons. 20 June 2000

            <http://www.utahvalleycommons>.