The Utopian Experiment of Utopian Community Brook Farm Essay

The history of the AGHS began in 1886, when an English couple- a Mr. and Mrs. Williams, came to Antigua, because of Mr. William's failing health. Mrs. Williams became the school's first headmistress. After her husband died, she sent for her sister and together they shared the responsibility of running the school. At this time the school had boarding facilities for local students, as well as students from neighbouring Caribbean islands such as St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, Dominica and Grenada.

Farmland got its start in 1852 after being founded by Henry D. Huffman and William Macy as a station on the Bellfontaine Railroad. On July 28th 1852 the two gentlemen platted Farmland on their farms. The town consisted of 152 lots including 6 streets, all of which are present today. Many cities that started on the railroad were thrust into a thriving economical environment. Being a station this allowed the city to quickly increase its population and annual revenue. There were many people that saw this economic opportunity and started forming farms alongside the town because it gave them quick access to the railroad. Thus their transportation costs were lower than other farmers. The agricultural business started to boom in the small town and drew more people into the town. People seized the economic opportunities that presented themselves. Sadly though the town did grow slow. But in 1870 the census found 532 people residing there. Starting from just two families the town gained over 500 residents in just 18 years. That is truly remarkable for the time that our nation was in.

The novel 'Raw', written by Scott Monk, shows that an institution may have varying effects on an individual. In this case the institution being 'The Farm'. The aim of the institution, being to transform the bad ways/behaviours of the individual. The individuals are expected to be in compliance of the rules and expectations of the caretakers, Mary & Sam. If the individuals protest to these, they can expect the consequences. The institution can have positive effects on the individuals, they can learn to trust respect, and treat people the right way. This can also backfire in some cases.

George Ripley, a leader of the transcendental movement, was the founder of Brook Farm, also known as The Brook Farm of Institute of Agriculture and Education. It was a Utopian experiment for communal living in 1841, located in Massachusetts. The goal was to establish social coherence between the thinker and the worker and to achieve individual mental freedom. Brook Farm was inspired by transcendentalism and was created to promote the beliefs of Fourierism. From day one, Brook Farm was bound to fail due to its inefficient social organization.

The sense of the community allowed neighbors to become great friends, small circles where everybody knew everybody. “I had 136 mommas and daddies… No one was better than anyone else in that grid of small houses because everyone was the same” (pages 85 and 86). The children that were not working at the mill, wondered around the villages. They were welcomed at every door they came to. Everyone in the mill village flourished off of each other’s talents from music to healing abilities to athletics. Not being able to afford the doctor practices provided by the company, they would turn to spiritual healings performed by “witches”, it was a cheaper alternative. Odell Knight once was taken by his mother to visit Miss Cenie, a skinny, religious woman with The Gift. She “talked to his wound” and the next day it was magically healed. The mill village looked to the mill’s baseball team as an escape on Saturdays. “It was one of the few times that the town people and the village people mixed, a free show in a time when all the money was tight” (page 115). Both the town and the village people came together to escape the reality of the Great Depression. It was an inexpensive activity enjoyed by many. The village baseball team did not feel as if they were just mill workers, they felt as if they were more when they played in these games. Little boys would ask Clay Hammett and the other Profile Nine for their autographs.

The Alcott Family tried to make a utopia where they could live off the land and return as closely to the Garden of Eden as possible. But the Fruitlands utopia had many noticeable flaws in the plan. Established in 1843 in Harvard,Massachusetts it was poorly planned and based around economy. The founding family were transcendentalists and wanted to make a community around it. Transcendentalists are people who believe that what you sense or feel is right without correct reasoning or facts. The Alcotts felt that their “utopia” would supply everything for them despite the bad weather conditions for farming and no use of animal products. They tried to be separate from the world but their attempt at a perfect society failed.

make the farm successful . Families were the most important social and economic unit where

In the years leading up to the Civil War, the woman’s sphere was expanding through social movements to remake and reform mainstream American society as a whole. No group of women, however, expanded to new territory as much as certain utopian societies allowed them to. These settlements sprang up in the 1830s and 1840s and called for radical changes in women’s sexual and reproductive lives. These societies were not based on the nuclear family and posed challenges to conventional notions of marriage. These utopian societies were the Shakers, the Oneida community, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, more commonly known as the Mormons. These three groups were all inspired by radical Christian notions of “human perfectibility”, but other experiments existed that based their lifestyles off of more secular ideas. The most famous of these secular experiments was Brook Farm, founded in Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1841.

In this documentary you are able to see example after example of farm owners and those

The farm represents an instance of posthumanism, literally embodying the collective instead of the individual, but still needs to destroy human property in order to advance its own goals, thus shattering the duality presented in Bollinger’s texts. Although the farm is “no longer relating very clearly to people outside its own communion of mind,” it is composed of “human components” and displays human qualities such as emotion (Stross 25). The rogue farm is a biological entity that forms from several human beings who want to pursue a different type of lifestyle, one that is not limited by the existence of a physical body. It is inferred that the world in which the story takes place experiences a future in which many people prefer life in a vastly different form of life instead of the ordinary human lives they live. In “Symbiogenesis, Selfhood, and Science Fiction”, Bollinger defines the idea of symbiogenesis as “the creation of new forms of life through the merging of

We want Lux farm to be a haven for all to do this we want our members to all be educated, we want them to have plenty recreation, and we want our older members to be able to retire when they have worked long and hard. We want all our members to be educated so they are able to speak up and voice their ideas and concerns unlike in animal farm. If we offer many opportunities for recreation like sports, clubs, and artistic outlets not only will our members be able to relax it will also allow our member to bond so we can grow together as a whole. Lux farm believes that retirement will also be a good thing to have on our farm so that younger members can have teachers and so that the old won’t work themselves to death like humans made them

Father Boyle mentioned, “People want me to tell them success stories. I understand this. They are the stories you want to tell, after all” (Boyle 167). Many people think that living on a farm is so fun and easy

The love that Wy has for the people in her town motivates her to be concerned about their welfare and she has come up with ideas for better living and to make the environment comfortable. Her tea shop has provided a better meeting point for the people and for her this was a point people would come to socialize. Healthy living is a concern she takes seriously therefore she goes ahead to provide organic foods to her streaming in customers. Activities like sports that can impact positively on the lives of the people has been used to bring people with common likes together and some of these groups have grown in fame to be identities for some parts of the region. The use of internet and social networks has made Lakewood a smaller village where people can meet to share ideas and concerns.

In Animal Farm by George Orwell's which is on the subject of the existence of a society of animals living on the Manor Farm.One firsts envisage that this novel is about the animals living in a farm from the title. But as the story goes on, it gradually begins to make the readers understand the depth content of the workings society in Communist Russia and the conflicts that evolve and create tension. George has veraciously correlate the society of human to the animals to the animals living in the Manor Farm.

Polyface holds very similar values to both the farms within The Good Life and The Dirty Life. The Nearing’s weren’t too big on the idea of feeding the community as much as they were in to self-sufficiency, but they did heavily rely on the natural system with-in their way of life; planning everything according to seasons and relying on organics. They also believed in the importance of educating on the subject and allowed people to come, stay, and learn, just like the Salatins. The Essex Farm has much more in common principles wise. Kristen and Mark’s goal was that they wanted to feed their community good, clean, healthy food, just like the Salatins. Kristen and Mark achieved this through sustainable practices and dedication to what they love. They maintained their CSA without advertisement and also focused on the importance of soil health just like the Polyface farm does. I believe that the Polyface farm is different in a sense that they have dedicated most of their efforts into creating and maintaining the symbiotic system that occurs within the farm, in contrast to the farms in The Good life and The Dirty Life.