The author's society in selected utopian and dystopian works
In Samuel Butler's Erewhon, a traveler finds a land that is not totally unlike his own society, but he soon discovers that they have a very different culture from his. By using the failings of Erewhonian society, the author draws the reader's attention to flaws of his own society. This device is used in other works studied this semester, by creating a world that is not completely different from the author's own in an effort to make society realize its faults. Thomas More's Utopia is similar to Erewhon because it makes commentary on certain social issues of his time, disguised as a story about a different culture. George Orwell's 1984 and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale were also written based on the societies in which the author's lived, but these stories take place in the same society at a different time, so they serve more as cautionary tales than social commentary. Erewhon satirizes many aspects of Victorian English society, including elements of religion, social injustice, and education. It is neither a utopia nor a dystopia, but rather a normal life for the Erewhonians, as they are not altogether unhappy, and a foreign place which the narrator discovers to be somewhat similar to his home country, but also opposit
On the other hand, Ydgrun is the goddess that most people actually believe in, but publicly, they often deny her and are ashamed of her. In Utopia, More gives an example of a perfect, yet fictional society where equality is universal and every person has some kind of opportunity. There is also universal agriculture work in Utopia which is very different from feudalistic European societies where the rich nobles do not work, and the peasants perform all of the labour while receiving hardly anything in return. He wrote it during the years in which his illness was the most serious and dehabilitating (Calder, 133), and also during the years of the Second World War which no doubt contributed to the sense of hopelessness in the book. From this it becomes apparent that knowledge should be useful, and the acquisition of such language should be carried out in an effective manner. The equality in Utopia is further seen through their educational and religious systems. "There is nothing in this book that hasn't already happened in the past, including the United States or European past, or isn't already happening somewhere else in the world" (Thompson 18). He gives the name hypothetics to the main feature in their system of study. Both the Puritans and the rulers of Gilead do not tolerate deviation from their very stringent rules, especially regarding sex and religion. The decay of London in 1984 is a warning of the dangers of a totalitarian government. I believe that these mixed up religious beliefs held by the people of Erewhon are an indication of the forgotten Christian values in Victorian England. However, the monotony and sameness in Utopia was not totally different from Europe at the time, where everyone was stuck in their place in society, and where there was not a lot of diversity. Erewhon is also a fictional society, but it is far from perfect. Butler acknowledges the deficiencies in the educational system of his home by inventing a school that is a reflection on his own experiences on Cambridge, where much of the knowledge learned is not useful, and where students do not get a chance to actually apply their knowledge (Bisenz 10).
Common topics in this essay:
England Utopia,
Handmaid's Tale,
England Victorian,
Colleges Unreason,
Center Thompson,
Party Winston,
England People,
Protestant Reformation,
More's Utopia,
War II,
handmaid's tale,
own society,
victorian england,
european society,
thompson 25,
society england,
christian values,
atwood's handmaid's tale,
greatly contrasts,
theft england,
punishment theft,
1984 handmaid's tale,
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Acceptance Essays
