Utopia And Dystopia By Thomas More

Thomas More’s book, Utopia, was constructed to criticize aspects of European life during the 1500s. One issue that More evaluates is the subject of politics and war. War during this time was used to gain territory or increase the ruler’s power. The Utopians are a peaceful group of citizens that rarely have any altercations occurring upon their island. They have a strict daily schedule that provides a minute amount of time for leisure, resulting in a low rate of problems. So why does More bring up the issue of war, if the people of Utopia infrequently misbehave? More analyzes this issue to exemplify how war was implemented in Europe under the reign of King Henry VIII. In addition, more describes the Utopians’ preparations when they engage in war. More wrote Utopia to provide the citizens of Europe with a source of hope for a new outlook on life.

The term utopia is often coined as an ideal or perfect society. In Sir Thomas More “Utopia” such a society is presented. However, today’s reader can see that this ideal or perfect society is filled with many underlying problems that make it not utopic or even dystopic. To exemplify the society More’s mention puts a strain on the freedom and relationship the citizens have with its country in to question. Such an act is detrimental in creating a utopia because if the citizens are not happy with the freedom and rights they are given how can the society itself be presented as a utopia, it is instead like a prison.

The next day as I walk through the school doors, I see Hunter glaring at me. Remembering what my mom said, I continue walking to class. I go to my first two periods and I read the book Utopia by Thomas Moore through both my classes. When the lunch bell rings, I jump up from my seat and head to the cafeteria where I sit down at my usual table alone. I start eating my peanut butter and jelly sandwich as Hunter and a bunch of his friends enter the cafeteria. I freeze in fear and I start to become enraged. My hands start to shake and my face turns bright red with anger. Without thinking about it, I stand up towering over Hunter. Hunter’s friends begin to laugh at my idiotic decision. I become even more enraged as I hold my hands up in front

Different societies have risen and fallen in the continual search for the “perfect” society. The definition of this utopia is in constant flux due to changing times and cultural values. Many works of literature have been written describing a utopian society and the steps needed to achieve it. However, there are those with a more cynical or more realistic view of society that comment on current and future trends. These individuals look at the problems in society and show how to solve them with the use of control and power. Such a society is considered undesirable and has become known as dystopian society.

He implies this ideology on the government’s excessive use of Propaganda. The novel begins with Winston Smith, a protagonist, walking into his house gloomily. Inside his home, a “telescreen” play loudly and continuously. As Winston looks outside, he sees that, “Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no color in anything, except the posters that were plastered everywhere. The black-mustachioed face gazed down from every commanding corner. There was one on the house front immediately opposite. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption said, while the dark eyes looked deep into Winston's own” (Orwell 6). Orwell implies the reality of how the totalitarian government is able brainwash people with the power of propaganda. By using imagery, “eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no color in anything,” he describes the vivid picture of a depressing environment of totalitarian society. This sequentially reflects people’s psychological mind due to the government’s misuse of propaganda. Orwell further stresses totalitarians’ abuse of power through the use of appeal to fear, “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.” This statement reminds the citizens who hold the

1984 by George Orwell is a novel set in a dystopian near-future London, the chief city of Airstrip One, Oceania. The people in Oceania are under the control of the Party. Big Brother, or BB, is the face of the Party and the leader of this great power that rules over Oceania. He is a dominant figure who acts as a trustworthy entity for the people he governs, but ironically is their worst enemy in many ways. His posters, captioned “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU”, can be seen everywhere in the streets of London. These posters give the reader a physical description of what one can imagine Big Brother to look like. He is a man of about forty-five with a heavy black moustache and ruggedly handsome features that make him look scary but leader-like. Most people in this society are unaware of how they are brainwashed and controlled by the Party. Big Brother controls Oceania with various carefully designed techniques, some of which are: keeping the Outer Party in control with the 24-hour surveillance, Reality Control and by controlling the proles -- by keeping them ignorant and luring them through privileges.

Imagine a society that arrests innocent people for owning a book. In the novel Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury builds a world that firefighter’s burn down houses that have books instead of preventing fires from happening. In Montag’s society, burning book is a way to get rid of all the past knowledge because they don’t want their citizens to go against the society. In this utopia society, everyone looks exactly that same and they lack communication. Bradbury creates a futuristic community that doesn’t allow citizens to read books because they want all of their people to be content.

Utopia and Dystopia are themes that explore the substantial extents of deceiving ascendancy and contrive an impelling illusion of a ‘perfect‘ society. Utopia is described as a place, state, or condition that is ideally perfect in respect of politics, laws, customs, and conditions while a dystopia, or a negative utopia, is a society characterized as an illusion of a perfect society maintained through oppressive societal control, in which exploits into an exaggerated worst-case scenario. The short stories, Harrison Bergeron, and The Lottery, are both literary examples imparted around a utopian society.

In Orwell’s novel he creates a fictional society in which the government rules all the people and holds complete power over everyone. The government is referred to as ‘The Party’ and they depict themselves and flawless, generous, and so very helpful to all of mankind. They feed the people lies and tell them that without them (The Party), the citizens would be hopeless and could not possibly survive. The government holds onto their widespread power by instilling fear upon all citizens. They openly let the people know that they have spies hidden everywhere, and they have various technological devices that will ensure that every person is acting exactly how the government wants them to. For example, the ‘telescreen’ was a device that was mandatory in every citizen’s house and was installed by the government. It was basically a video recorder that could watch a person’s every move, as well as read off important news from the government rulers. The main character in Orwell’s novel, Winston Smith, expresses his thoughts about the telescreen by realizing that “at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live -- did live, from habit that became instinct -- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and,

A dystopia is an imaginary, imperfect place where those who dwell are faced with terrible circumstances. The novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley illustrates the concept of a dystopia. A utopia is an ideal place where everything is perfect, but in the novel, it becomes apparent that the author is trying to demonstrate the negative effects on a society when it attempts to become an unreachable utopian society. Brave New World is seen as a dystopia for many reasons, as citizens are deprived of freedom, programmed to be emotionless and under the control of a corrupt dictatorship. These points illustrate the irony of a society’s attempt to reach utopia by opposing ethics and morality; citizens are tragically distanced from paradise,

Utopia- good place, or in other words, no place. Thomas More, in his work Utopia, describes a nation in a parallel universe free from greed, pride, immorality, poverty, and crime; told as a narrative of a well-traveled explorer Hythloday to Moore himself, Hythloday speaks of a nation founded purely upon rationality, efficiency, and perfect morality. Thomas More’s work is no political or social theory, but rather a social critique and a commentary. In an age experiencing political and social struggle across every aspect of Western civilization along with the flooding of ancient and new ideas, Utopia is More’s way of discovering and exploring man’s and society’s natural structures and tendencies, and expressing his discontent towards them- this is shown in the narrative, as the dialogue of Hythloday and More represent his conflicted view between the ideal and the pragmatic. Acknowledging these flaws, More’s work critiques the utopian society from the perspectives of an imperfect man, but also vice versa.

the people are empowered, but the ideals that truly run the society, are empowered. More’s true

One of the main ways the government inflicts their control on the citizens is through the invasion of privacy. In this society, every home is installed with telescreens and microphones that watch the residents every move. The government does this to watch for any signs of abnormality in citizens. The cameras are installed in streets as well to prevent conspiring among the citizens. Citizens are watched everywhere and there is no escape from being scrutinized. The caption “Big Brother is Watching You” (Orwell 3), is posted all over the city as a constant reminder to people that they are never away from Big Brother’s watch and that Big Brother knows everything. Winston feels that the picture is “so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move” (Orwell 3). Obviously, pictures can not move, yet Winston feels like it watches him constantly.

Utopia is a brilliant novel written by Thomas More. The idea of a utopia seems impossible, how can anyone live in a perfect place when perfection is in the eyes of the beholder? The Utopia in this novel is nothing more than abundant of already established ideas therefore it can’t not truly be a Utopia.

The world in any society has two sides, Utopia which is defined as the perfect world and the peaceful life that is free from disasters. This word " Utopia " is derived from Greek roots by Sir Thomas More which means "a good place" (More 37). Merriam Webster defined Utopia as "an imaginary place, all life aspects are perfect, as the world suffers from nothing" (Webster 19). while Dystopia is defined as an imagined universe in which the unequal society controls the fancy of an ideal society which are maintained through technological, moral, corporate or totalitarian control " Beauty of dystopia is that it lets us vicariously experience future worlds but we still have the power to change our own" (Condie 75). in which the genre challenges utopia’s