Sir Thomas More wrote "Utopia" right before the Reformation. I thought this reading was hard for the fact that it talks about a lot of information, and I seem to get it all confused in my brain. Book 1 of "Utopia" sets up Book 2 and leads readers into the justice system of England at the time under King Henry VIII by desribing "Utopia," an imaginary place, with imaginary characters within a story of a story. The main characters, Morton, Giles, and More and of course Hythloday, all meet and talk about Hythloday's travels inparticular his "mistaken" discovery of Utopia. Utopia sounds like an ideal place to settle and has rules that seem too perfect. More, the author, brings about the issues of capital punishment and thieves due to enclosure in Book 1, which are governmental issues that are controversial at this time in England. In class, Dr. Kilgore explains that the main point of the story is to try and influence by telling stories to a person who is of higher rank, the king, being unjust. However, More also approached the issues that if he could by chance influence the king or someone who can speak to the king such as the cardinal then maybe other people will agree with him too. Hythloday then tries to make a point that no matter how good a proposed policy is or his ideas, it will seem insane to people or a person (king) who are used to a different way of seeing the world. Therefore, he uses his knowledge and education to try and get to people through text. Book 2 goes on to explain these controversial issues of the government, war, religion, slavery, education, etc. in Utopia everything seems perfect, but would this really work or would it cause chaos? For instance, most of the rules in Utopia I believe exist today. Such as freedom of religion, even though, today, people are atheist and they believe in evolution and science instead of in a particular God. Even today, we have class distinctions, they are not as prominent as in the 15th century, but they do still exist. You have the rich the poor and the middle class. But we are not necessarily governed by the rich or royal, but by the President, who far-stretched, could resemble the King, considering he makes all of the final decisions. Also, even today, not everyone works, such as he promotes in Utopia. There are still thieves, but in Utopia these thieves were given second chances since their reason for stealing was justified in order to feed their families. More brings up in Book 1 that thieves are tried in England similar to murderers, so they might as well murder the people they are stealing from; however in Utopia they are supposed to give back what they stole and if they do it again then they can be hung. Also, war in Utopia is rather non-existent for the fact that they try everything they can to avoid it; however, they still train for it just incase. In issues of war they use cunning rather than brute strength. Sounds ideal right? Education in Utopia is in high demand and very crucial; America today is the same I believe you have to start from the beginning with education.
With all this said, I still dont see why he just didnt write this all himself in a biographical text? Why did he have to make a place up? Turn real people into fictional characters? Is this because he wanted the King to hear his thoughts and cause controversy amongst the people, but still being able to express his ideas in a distant fashion, considering he knows that the people are going to think his ideas are ridiculous anyway because they are so far-fetched and out of the norm. Maybe he uses this text to have England compare themselves to this ideal place?
Would you want to live here? Is a question that Dr. Kilgore asked us at the end of class on Monday. So would you? I think that everything seems to sound perfect, but maybe too perfect. Something has to go wrong. There always has to be war and conflicting ideas or everyone is going to seem programmed and robotic in their actions. If thieves are not stealing for food then what would they start stealing? Money, gold, property? No offense, and it may sound cynnacle but nothing is perfect; even today, we are governed by some of Hythloday's desriptions of Utopia, but our world seems to be getting worse as the days go by. Prisioners and corrupt people I believe will always exist. I find it hard to run an "ideal" country that follows both laws and religion completely.
Oh and also what woman would want to "confess" their sins to their husbands once a month? Assuming that all women sin? Also, I know that I would not want to see my husband naked and not even be able to really get to know him before I make that big of a commitment. Or what about the slaves, the slaves are usually criminals or people who have went against the non-established rules; would I really want them working in my house? Which however, a house that you are sharing with 10-16 other people. And how does Utopia figure that without lawyers and judges that people even know right from wrong, because keep in mind if they dont they could be put into enslavement. By priest and religion sense I would understand if they are right or wrong, but that is not always the case in normal life.
ReplyDeleteI find Utopia to just be to perfect and not a place I would want to live. In some aspects things may be better but overall Utopia seems to restricted. YOu are made to live in your home with so many people then if another district is over or under populated they move you around to get a better balance. Really what is a "Free Thinker" anymore. Everyone has the same routine, same clothes, has to do only certain trades, and farming. I know they do not work long hours and have the chance to read, play music ect. but still I would want a little more personal space.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was reading book 2, i kept invisioning Robots walking around. Because like Regina said, everyone is doing the same thing. It feels like people do not really have an opinion on anything, no one can express themselves the way they want to!
ReplyDeleteI would hate to live there. Maybe somethings are better over in Utopia but most of the way things are run seems bad. I mean they do not even really have wars because they do not like them [who likes having wars in the first place], but they happened! Not everyone will always agree on everything!!
Jessica, I am not sure what else they would steal for and have thieves, but I do not think they would steal gold or land. They do not even value gold or silver for any purpose like we value money to buy things. They hold onto the gold, because in the markets there is no use for it. And since the land has no one man owner to them, I do not see anyone trying to steal land.
I did not like the way they conducted marriages. You have to see your partner completely naked before you get married, what is that?? And if that is not bad enough, you are with a "chaperone" during this, so not only does your future husband/wife see you completely naked but so does this other person! That is just completely wierd!!! But I can see the reason behind it, so they know exactly what to expect before they get married. But what happens if you do not like what you see, do you not get married to the person?? So they saw you naked & now your not even going to marry them...that would just suck!
I also did not like how they had a set number of people in each town and how there was a set number of people allowed in each family! And if you went over that number, they would take children away from a mother that had a lot and give them to another set of parents who did not have a lot! That just reminds me of the one child rule that China has!! I would hate to have a limit of how many children I can have or even worse have them taken away from me!!!
It was good that they put a high emphasis on education for the children. And they had good hospitals to take care of the sick! And I really was not expecting the religion part to be the way it was, I figured that everyone was going to have to believe in the same thing. So that was kind of cool, that they can believe in whatever they want!
It just does not seem like everything will always stay that way. Like Jessica said, something has to go wrong!! Nothing can be that good or perfect, something or someone has to corrupt it!