An in depth look at the literary utopian societies

A Modern Utopia by H. Wells - An imaginary, progressive utopia on a planetary scale in which the social and technological environment are in continuous improvement, a world state owns all land and power sources, positive compulsion and physical labor have been all but eliminated, general freedom is assured, and an open, voluntary order of "samurai" rules. A Comedy of the Year by Upton Sinclair. A novel where capitalism would find its zenith with the construction of The Pleasure Palace.

Utopia Definition of Utopia A utopia is a nearly perfect or ideal society or community. Most utopias, whether real or fictional, are theoretically based on egalitarian principles in which the members of the community have equal rights, control over the direction of the society, and access to resources.

Utopia - Ms. Nelson's Class Site

Utopias are generally considered to be peaceful communities. Different ideologies have produced different types of utopias, such as ones in which there are no taxes, no laws, no money, and so on though many hypothetical utopias do have some form of all of these aforementioned things.

Utopias are perhaps more prevalent in literature than in reality, as they are notoriously difficult to maintain. More prevalent still are dystopias, which are often supposed to have started off as utopias. Many dystopia examples involve the perversion of once-noble goals.

The word utopia was coined by Sir Thomas More, an English philosopher and statesmen, in his book Utopia. Later, the word dystopia was created for the opposite concept. Common Examples of Utopia There have been many attempts throughout human history to create real examples of utopias.

Most of these have failed, many of them spectacularly so. Here are just a few examples of real utopias: A Massachusetts community that lasted for 5 years in the 19th century, founded on the principles of transcendentalism.

Literary utopias

The Republic of Minerva: Founded in on American Libertarian principles of no taxation or welfare, the Republic of Minerva was located on an artificial island in the South Pacific. It attracted multimillionaires, and also the ire of nearby Fiji and Tonga, who fought over possession of the island.

Built in Arizona on the principles of Italian architect Paolo Soleri which involved the alignment of architecture with ecology, Arcosanti exists to this day. It has not flourished as Soleri wished mostly due to its remoteness in the Arizona desert. Some notable features of the fictional community include a lack of private property, free hospitals, all meals taken in communal dining halls, and an even distribution of resources amongst the people.

Whereas the genre of dystopia is still very popular, and indeed there are more examples of dystopia being written now than ever before, the popularity of utopias has diminished noticeably. The most famous examples of utopian fiction come to us from the 16thth centuries, and there have been no recent utopia examples for the past two decades.

It is difficult to pinpoint why exactly this is the case. The difference in the two genres is that dystopia examples point out the wrongs in society by showing what could happen if they were taken to an extreme, whereas a utopia example shows the failings of society by demonstrating the good that could happen if they were reversed.

Examples of Utopia in Literature Example 1 Then the just man will not be any different from the just city with respect to the form itself of justice, but will be like it.

Much of the book is concerned with the nature of justice, just as the above quote is. The ideal society in this Socratic discussion is one ruled by philosopher-kings, and contains no slavery and no discrimination between men and women.

Plato advocated for universal education for all citizens of this utopia, as well as the abolishment of all riches. Example 2 What kind of justice is it when a nobleman, a goldsmith, a moneylender, or someone else who makes his living by doing either nothing at all or something completely useless to the commonwealth gets to live a life of luxury and grandeur, while in the meantime a laborer, carter, or a farmer works so hard and so constantly that even beasts of burden would scarcely endure it?

It is interesting to consider that humans have come to these same conclusions for thousands of years, and yet we are still grappling with how to make these idyllic parameters for a society come true. Example 3 Temperance, industry, exercise, and cleanliness, are the lessons equally enjoined to the young ones of both sexes: They live in as close to a utopia as can be found in the novel.

Many common features of utopias are found here, as shown in the excerpt above. They accept only facts, and have no opinions, and value friendship and benevolence above all else. Marriage is not based on love, and is supposed to lead to two children—one male and one female—with an allowance for another if one of these children dies.

Example 4 When we say men, man, manly, manhood, and all the other masculine-derivatives, we have in the background of our minds a huge vague crowded picture of the world and all its activities.

And when we say women, we think female—the sex. But to these women. This example of utopia is a pacifist community that reveres education above all else. Three men visit the society and are shocked by the change in what they view as traditional gender roles and the lack of property and communal raising and education of the children.The community wasn’t particularly unique for its time—after all, more than 80 utopian communities were launched in the s alone—but it was notable as the first purely secular one.

Literary Utopian Societies Essays Words | 7 Pages Literary Utopian Societies “The vision of one century is often the reality of the next ” (Nelson ). It looks like you've lost connection to our server.

Please check your internet connection or reload this page. Utopia Mirriam-Webster Online, a reputable dictionary, defines a utopia as a "place of ideal perfection especially in laws, government and social conditions." A "utopia" is essentially the perfect place: it is the society that everyone seeks to live in, to create.

A Library of Literary Interestingness. Cavendish’s looking-glass utopia anticipates the world of Lewis Carroll’s Alice books in a number of startling ways. Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels. Gulliver interprets the Houyhnhnms’ society as a utopian world, though whether Swift is inviting us to agree, or to distance ourselves.

- Literary Utopian Societies “The vision of one century is often the reality of the next ” (Nelson ). Throughout time, great minds have constructed their own visions of utopia.

Through the study of utopias, one finds that these “perfect” societies have many flaws.