Narrative vs. Essay in Utopian Literature
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 . . .
For instance, instead of simply stating that industrialization is not the apex of humanity, but merely a stepping-stone along the way, Bellamy introduces this idea through a picture painted with words, thus showing his reading audience the feasibility of such an idea. main purpose is to educate his nineteenth-century audience about the evils of its social and economic systems. Julian West emulates the expected reactions of the readers, and Doctor Leete stands in to gently explain and make sense of the situation, in turn persuading the readers to understand and accept the presented ideas. He clearly speaks as an enthusiastic supporter of the social and economic structure in Bellamy's imagined twentieth-century utopia. Julian is a well-educated aristocrat, like much of the nineteenth-century reading public. 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. The Preface, addressed to a fictional twentieth-century audience, presents Looking Backward as a historical document, not a work of speculative fiction. As a representative of the nineteenth century transported to the twentieth century, Julian is capable of criticizing nineteenth-century society. He functions as a guide to Bellamy's strange twentieth-century society. The plot is merely a vehicle for Bellamy's ideas about social and economic reform. He persuades his readers to consider his radical vision of the perfect society by using a narrator with whom his audience can identify. If the same idea were to be presented in essay form, the readers would find it easy to simply write off the one person speaking, and wouldn’t take the time to find a way to relate to the notions of this crackpot. Thus, narration is an excellent vehicle for new ideas to be accepted, as oppose to simply being presented by an essay. 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.
Common topics in this essay:
Julian West, Looking Backward, Doctor Leete, , Edward Bellamy, Hence Bellamy, social economic, looking backward, reading audience, nineteenth-century audience, ideas social, julian west, |
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