The difference between a narrative and an essay is that an essay can merely state and argue facts from one person's viewpoint. A narrative, on the other hand, can incorporate many characters' perspectives on a given topic, and thus can aid in molding the readers thoughts and feelings concerning the subject matter. For such a theme as "utopian literature," the contemporary audience often views the ideas of the author, such as in the book Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy, skeptically. Thus, by incorporating a method of writing that allows persuasion through relation, Bellamy is able to help his audience relate to his radical ideas.
             The plot of Looking Backward is minimal and simple because Bellamy's main purpose is to educate his nineteenth-century audience about the evils of its social and economic systems. The plot is merely a vehicle for Bellamy's ideas about social and economic reform. The Preface, addressed to a fictional twentieth-century audience, presents Looking Backward as a historical document, not a work of speculative fiction. Hence, Bellamy clearly does not wish for his nineteenth-century audience to regard his book as a fanciful whim, but as an actual blueprint for the improvement of their society.
             The main character, Julian West, is introduced in the first chapter as someone who can be related to by the main readers of Bellamy's writing, the upper class. As a representative of the nineteenth century transported to the twentieth century, Julian is capable of criticizing nineteenth-century society. He clearly speaks as an enthusiastic supporter of the social and economic structure in Bellamy's imagined twentieth-century utopia. Bellamy well knows that his reading audience is likely to be hostile and incredulous regarding many of his ideas for social reform. He persuades his readers to consider his radical vision of the perfect society by using a narrator with whom his audience can ident...