...Brian Garcia English 102 Professor Koplow October 5, 2013 In his book, Utopia, Sir Thomas More examines the crippled government system in England. He wrote Utopia in 1516, during the reign of King Henry VIII. He takes on this satire through the eyes of his fictional character Raphael Hythloday, where Utopia is described as a society that seems to be the ideal living situation for human beings. A society far more advanced and just. Raphael believes Utopia’s greatest achievements include becoming the perfect society. As a nation that is based on rational thought, and religious tolerance. Where everything is shared, including your home, a world with great productivity for the greater good of the nation. In Utopia there is no class distinctions, no greed for money or gold, therefore crime and immoral behavior is kept to a minimum. In Utopia, there is no private property. Everything is owned by everyone and there is no need for anyone to want more that another person because everyone in the society works together to supply ample provisions for the whole community. When describing Utopia, Raphael points out many of the problems that he sees in English society. One of the most striking examples of English social problems that Hythloday points out is the insistence of the English monarchy to emphasize class distinction. You’re either wealthy or a peasant. But he does say how can anyone “value himself because his cloth is made of a finer thread: for how...
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...despite the fact that such an ideal life has stayed in people’s mind, not too many people believe a real utopia exists. It is similar to when audiences watch a romantic movie with a perfect ending and tell themselves this can only happen on the screen where all the lines have been written and edited carefully. Without any hope for any possible alternatives, eventually, no one would strive to create a peaceful and fantasy world according to their dream. However, there is a country that is making the dream of a lot of people come true. In a recent decade, Singapore has been moving towards the idea of improving their social and economic problems through constructing the modern building projects. Needless to say, their significant achievement in economic social development has brought them opportunities to become one of the most stable economies in the world regardless of a limited space and sacred natural resources. Singapore is among the countries that has the lowest rate of unemployment, highest adequate living conditions and social pension, and fastest economic growth in Asia. Furthermore, it is also well known for the green environment and energy efficiency. Although Singapore is believed to be a clear example of how a utopian plan has improved human development, there are critics argue that its government is directing people in an oppressive setting through a so called utopia and that there is lack of innovation in a too stable economic organization. The rigid of the government...
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...Utopia (/juːˈtoʊpiə/) is an ideal community or society possessing highly desirable or perfect qualities. The word was coined in Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island society in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt to create an ideal society, and fictional societies portrayed inliterature. It has spawned other concepts, most prominently dystopia. In many cultures, societies, and religions, there is some myth or memory of a distant past when humankind lived in a primitive and simple state, but at the same time one of perfect happiness and fulfillment. In those days, the various myths tell us, there was an instinctive harmony between humanity and nature. People's needs were few and their desires limited. Both were easily satisfied by the abundance provided by nature. Accordingly, there were no motives whatsoever for war or oppression. Nor was there any need for hard and painful work. Humans were simple and pious, and felt themselves close to the gods. According to one anthropological theory, hunter-gatherers were the original affluent society. Religious utopias can be intra-religious or inter-religious. The inter-religious utopia borders on a concept like Polyculturalism and is not deemed possible in the near future or the near-far future. Fledgling theories are generally canceled as impossible, but the ideology of God and Religion used in inter-religious utopia is commonly stated...
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...peregrination though his senior year and making his way to collage. This young man is just trying to stay out of trouble and get into one of the most respected universities in the U.S. But along the way he faces many difficult situations and maybe this problems will be able to be answered by a book called Utopia. Hopefully young Cedric Jennings will be able to solve most of his problems how the people in the wonderful town of Utopia solved their problems. One of his most unremitting problems was how kids in his school would never give a crap about their grades. I mean the surprising “2.0 grade point average for athletic participation is too high a bar for many kids here to cross”(Suskind 2). Too me this would be a huge problem because having to be around kids that don’t care about their grades would make it hard to do well in school. Even when you’re a kid from the hood that has a pedantry brain. I mean this kid is smart, but he just has to deal with problems that he shouldn’t have too. I mean Cedric would have to be very chary about his knowledge. He would have to because other kids would say “Nerd! Geek! Egghead! And the harshest, Whitey!”(Suskind 3). Down I the town of Utopia, many people would have a very different saying about how the education system would be run. Utopians say, “they may apply themselves wholly to study”(More 35-36). If they do not wish to pursue a great educated life, than they...
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...William Saffold Professor Caine Writing 106 Utopia/Dystopia 20 February 2012 It’s Not Worth It It is not difficult to see what it takes to have a Utopian Society. George Saunders’s world in “The Semplica-Girl Dairies” was in no way a Utopia. There was nothing but chaos from beginning to end and in all facets. However much the characters in the story tried to make everything perfect it never seemed to really work. Contrarily Forster’s “The Machine Stops” began as a Utopia and fell apart. After reading both stories, and looking at specific examples from “The Machine Stops”, I have come to the conclusion that in order to reach a true utopian society it is more important for everyone to be nourished and content with what they have rather than give everyone the opportunity to make themselves better. However, I believe that pursuing a utopia would be destructive to humanity. It would eradicate everything we know as beauty in our world. Forster grew up in this environment of working to better yourself. He was born around the beginning of the industrial revolution when trains and automobiles were blossoming. I would presume that this is when, as an intellectual, he foresaw humanity being consumed in technology. With his story he was trying to show us that relying on technology and not doing enough for ourselves can be disastrous. However, I do believe that he created a utopia. This was a typical room in Forster’s tunnels. “Imagine, if you can, a small room...
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...Personal or Political? Cleverly penned to literally mean ‘no place,’ Utopia is an ideal discussed by Thomas More in Utopia. With connotations of eternal and universal bliss, the potential of a Utopian society easily strikes a chord in anyone’s heart to continuously pursue. Therefore, isn’t that ultimately what we are all trying to do, reach our Utopia? It is common knowledge that we are all diverse and individual people, so is a true worldly Utopia possible? We each form our own individual Utopian ideals, and while some theories may connect in ways with another’s opinion, a Utopia is more of a personal ideal and less of a societal or political ideal. The foundation of a Utopia is where most commonalities in opinions are found: job or purpose, happiness, belonging, positive environment, insurance of safety and sustenance, and the perfect amount of order. Getting to a more specific level, however, reveals differences in issues of strong government control or complete independence, stationary communities or nomadic, living off the land or to focus on a life with industrialized advancements, etc. In More’s Utopia, the perfect amount of order is similar to the United State’s House of Representatives, in which one person per city is made the voice of the people. The votes are ultimately out of the public’s control and are the Representative’s own personal opinion of what is best for the people. (More) When the time comes to vote on issues like control, as a country we do our...
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...fantasy world is what’s called a utopia because it’s a perfect world. The dystopic world versus a utopic world, what are the similarities? What are the differences? The legal definition of dystopia “an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one” (Webster). A dystopia is the world we currently live in because in certain parts of the world it can be very degrading and dark. Watching the news alone will give anybody a sense of despair because it’s filled with wars, people dying, and tragedy; whether it’s human induced or natural. The media is constantly buzzing with various scandals, such as corruption by people in high places. Violence has become normal and a part of everyday life, people are immune to violence and bad news. This is the real world definition of a dystopia because it does give you a sense of despair and watching the news will make you think that the world is bad and unpleasant. A utopia is the complete opposite of the dark world. It’s a place where everything is peaceful, there are no deaths, no wars, no corruption scandals, no clergy, rulers, king, or army(s). It is a completely peaceful and beautiful world; there is no need for weapons or violence of any sort like a dystopia. A utopia is the sort of world where people escape to in their minds, it’s a place where we build our fantasies and try to find some type of peace. We can dream about a utopia, then we wake up and reality hits...
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...table about Utopia and their principles that there is no such thing as private property over there. Thomas More and Peter Giles can’t believe that such a principle exists and that it would lead to a more prosperous way of living nonetheless. Intrigued on how such society can exist with no sense of private property, More and Giles urge Raphael to speak more about this island of Utopia. Raphael’s explanation of his experience in Utopia is all covered in part two of More’s book. According to Raphael’s explanation of utopia, the community is only interested to produce the minimal amount needed to survive. Every community member pitches in to do their part in making the basic resources needed by the society. If someone decides to travel to another part of the island that he/she must provide some sort of labor to receive food and must do so with permission or punishment will follow. The people of Utopia press very hard that you must not be idle and should indulge your spare time doing something useful. The community values making most of their spare time to either engage in more work or become more knowledgeable by reading or attend lectures....
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...Thomas More’s Utopia is a work of ambiguous dualities that forces the reader to question More’s real view on the concept of a utopian society. However, evidence throughout the novel suggests that More did intend Utopia to be the “best state of the commonwealth.” The detailed description of Utopia acts as Mores mode of expressing his humanistic views, commenting on the fundamentals of human nature and the importance of reason and natural law, while gracefully combining the two seemingly conflicting ideals of communism and liberalism. The presence of satirical irony and contradiction clearly defines Utopia as an unobtainable goal, though goal that all societies must pursue nonetheless. In essence, Utopia is a written manifestation of More’s humanist beliefs. Many of these views are vicariously present in the character of Raphael Hythloday. For example, Hythloday comments on the unwillingness of Kings to take advice from others, claiming they are “drenched as they are and infected with false values from boyhood and on” (More, 2011, p. 28). The idea of “infection” implies that a man is not naturally corrupt or sinful, but rather pure at heart and simply influenced by the environment an individual is exposed to. This is a key humanist concept, which suggests that human nature is malleable and inconstant, and therefore can be positively influenced to do good. Raphael later states, “Pride is too deeply fixed in human nature to be easily plucked out” (More, 2011, p. 98) Though this...
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...An ideal world is usually characterised as a place of perfection, a place where there is limited conflict and violence, less control from governments and higher organisational and corporate powers and where the environment reflects the residents carefree and untroubled nature. Utopias represent the ideal life, where individuals can escape from their real life, and envisage what it would be like to live in this perfect world. Aldous Huxley, although representing an ideal world in Brave New World (1932), displays the adverse connotations of creating ideal worlds, with relation to problems of post World War I period. Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman (1949) addresses loss of identity and a man's inability to accept change within himself and society, which also...
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...Utopias can be described as perfect societies which can be exemplified by many modern communities today. Most utopian societies live by a strict set of rules in an attempt to avoid pain and conflict. These societies tend to question their freedom and go against the government. Although utopias live by certain sets of rules, it can be said that they usually are not utopias based on poor choices made by the community and the effects of human nature. Utopias fail in many different ways. When trying for a utopia, a government sets a system to where all homosopians are equal and always happy. A utopia acts as a domino effect, when a society encounters a positive solution, a negative aspect rises. In Why Utopias Fail, this idea is expressed, “any land of milk and honey automatically attracted swords and muskets.” This metaphor explains the concept that with every helpful encounter comes a problem needing a solution. This presents the idea that a utopia is one of the hardest things for a government to achieve. This negative factor proves that a utopia is almost impossible to achieve....
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...The Frick Collection, New York Thomas More UTOPIA* First edition, Louvain, Flanders, 1516, in Latin First edition in English, 1551, by Ralph Robynson, with the subtitle: A fruitful, pleasant, and witty work, of the best state of a public weal and of the new isle called Utopia . . . Excerpts* _______ Hans Holbein, Sir Thomas More, 1527 A meter of four verses in the Utopian tongue, briefly touching as well the strange beginning, as also the happy and wealthy continuance, of the same commonwealth. Utopos ha Boccas peula chama polta chamaan. Bargol he maglomi Baccan soma gymnosophaon, Agrama gymnosophon labarem bacha bodamilomin. Volvala barchin heman la lavolvala dramme pagloni. Cornelius Graphey1 to the Reader Wilt thou know what wonders strange be in the land that late was found? Wilt thou learn thy life to lead by divers ways that godly be? Wilt thou of virtue and of vice understand the very ground? Wilt thou see this wretched world, how full it is of vanity? Then read and mark and bear in mind, for thy behoof, as thou may best. All things that in this present work that worthy clerk Sir Thomas More, With wit divine full learnedly, unto the world hath plain expressed, In whom London well glory may, for wisdom and for godly lore. Which verses the translator, according to his simple knowledge and mean understanding in the Utopian tongue hath thus rudely Englished. and Utopus by name, My king muchconquererand immortal fame, A prince of renown Hath made...
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...Published in 1516, Sir Thomas More’s Utopia drew attention to many of the issues contemporary European society faced at that time. While Utopia is considered a socio-political satire, there is little humor to be found in the problems of their day. Thomas More drew attention to the unfair socio-economic system, the egocentric kings and distrust in technology. Sadly, five hundred years later, the modern world still faces these same issues. Turn CNN on any time of the day and you will hear a multitude of examples. Currently, the United States faces an unfair socio-economic system that gives privilege and opportunity to wealthy citizens, while repressing minorities and the poor. The issues wealthy citizens face are represented fully and addressed...
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...Can Utopias Exist Some utopias can and can’t exist. We will learn that utopias can exist. Also that will learn how Amish people are following specific rules to make everyone happy, they are trying to help the homeless not be homeless any more, & they have to have a happy life with their spouse. Before we start let's talk about Amish people and how they are following specific rules to make everyone happy.In the article ¨The Amish Lifestyle¨ in paragraph 9 “ They don’t use cars so that they don’t pollute the air around us”. This supports my reason because they are not wanting to hurt the environment. In the article ¨The Amish Lifestyle¨ in paragraph 8 “Amish believe in marriage for life”.This means that they don’t have as many sad or depressed...
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...Utopia, as described by Thomas More, is a perfect society because they had a diverse religion, a low crime rate, and an established government. More expresses how Utopia had a very diverse and accepting religion. Everyone could believe in almost anything they wanted. More explained how “Many religions were practiced in Utopia, from worship of the sun or moon to a belief in one God.” (More, Paragraph 9) Overall, most religious beliefs were tolerated. This allowed Utopians to have freedom when it came to religion. Utopia was also shown to have a low crime rate. “Crime was also rare in Utopia because there was no incentive to steal in that all possessions belonged to everyone anyway.” (More, Paragraph 7) Since materials were shared among the...
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