Utopia notes outlining utopian ideals and historical utopia; summary and analysis of Thomas More's 'Utopia'; utopia in science fiction; and helpful links. Useful to compare to The Handmaid's Tale and 1984. Used to get 100% in OCR English Literature A-Level.
What is a utopia?
• A utopia is an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or
nearly perfect qualities for its citizens.
Utopian ideals
The appeal of a utopia is that the concept can mean different things for different people.
Here are some common themes presented in utopia:
• A society without war or violence.
• A world with equality for all.
• A world free from financial burdens.
Utopian ideals: A society without war or violence
• Almost every utopia has one trait in common: violence is eradicated and there is no
war.
• When a utopia is conceived, this ideal is often the first one strived for:
• A peaceful society presented in many utopia highlights the contrasts between how
we live now.
• For some, this characteristic could be taken further and a utopia could be envisioned
with peace between every person.
§ There is some irony in the fact that the pursuit of a peaceful utopia often involves
bloodshed during the overthrowing of a leader and the status quo.
Utopian ideals: Equality
• Another utopian ideal is that of equality for all races, beliefs and genders.
• Inequality has plagued humankind forever and continues to do so - often being the
cause of the war and violence that a utopia strives to reject.
• Equality is extremely important to a utopian society, because with financial and
social equality peace can be achieved.
• Greed will not exist and therefore there will be no cause for uproar and
disagreements.
§ This idea of equality leads on to the next utopian ideal: a society free of financial
burdens.
Utopian ideals: Economic equality
• A system of communal ownership is also presented in many utopia:
• Communism (where all property is owned by the public and people contribute and
receive according to their needs) is a key aspect of this and many perceive this to
be the basis of a utopian society.
• Property ownership is a key concern of many utopian texts because of the belief
that without private ownership everyone would be financially equal.
• Plato first introduced this idea in his dialogue The Republic, believing that there
should be communism among only the elite class and that some forms of private
ownership should still exist.
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