When I first began reading Utopia for this week’s readings, I went in with the intent to do a first pass reading of the introduction, More’s letter, and Book 1. But as I was doing my first pass on More’s letter to Peter Giles, I became really interested in what he was really trying to say. He begins to describe to Peter that they have overlooked the fact that they do not know “in what area of the New World Utopia is to be found” (523). He talks to his friend as if someone wants to know where Utopia is actually located. He says he is “ashamed not to know even the name of the ocean where this island lies about which I’ve written so much” (523). At first I read this as if he really was concerned, but the more I thought about it, I took it as More being sarcastic to anyone who might actually believe this place exists (or could ever exist).
With this idea in mind, it affected me as I continued to read. I began to wonder if this idea seemed impossible and unattainable to More and that he may have been simply showing and teasing us with something that we will never have. It is almost as if he could be mocking us with the idea of a better society and structure. He presents this amazing concept, but in reality, it is highly unattainable.
If I think about it in this way, I begin to compare More with Satan in the form of the serpent in the Bible. The serpent lures Eve to something that he describes as perfect and makes her long for something she should not touch. In this sense, More is like the serpent because he describes to us something so perfect and something that everyone would long for. Who wouldn’t want to live in the most perfect society? Did More have this intent while writing Utopia (even if it was an underlining motive)?
To extend off this comparison even more, let’s say we somehow achieved this society, would it be as perfect as we once believed? Adam and Eve were faced with so many hardships after taking what they had longed for. Would we experience those same hardships? Would we get more than we bargained for with form of society? As humans, we are inherently competitive. Could we just send people out to the country to help with harvesting? Would people view undeveloped and free land as something that should not be built on or owned?
I think if this Utopia were to ever even come close to existence, we could come across more problems than you would think. Do you think More knew this the whole time and he meant to just throw something out there to tease us with? Or was he really trying to make a difference in society?
3 comments:
Wow! I really liked everything you had to say. I'm not sure if I 100% agree with your opinion of More mocking us, but if that's his intent then I totally see where you're coming from. I mean this whole "utopia" thing is hard to believe. Like you mentioned Adam and Eve, they technically were in a utopia, until they "ruined it". I think that he is more playing with our imaginations rather than mocking us. I feel that he wants to kind of show us what the world could have been or could potentially be like (that might be going too far). I think that a lot of what he says in the text are idealized notions that he enjoys imagining and wanted his readers to take a moment and think about too.
Great post. I think that you touch on some elements that clearly identify More's imperialistic voice. Its clear that he believes from his writing that the Western World is the model of society that should be followed, but there are other ways of living as well. I think More included a snarky tone that had elements of satire in it, but I'm not sure More was mocking us? I feel like if More was mocking his society, we as his audience would have also felt insulted after reading Utopia Book 2. In essence, I think More was doing the complete opposite by describing this society. Its perfect, yet its not with its numerous slaves and institutions that suppress the people to be one.
I was on board with you until you reached the part about More and Satan. I don't think you are completely off base, I just think you chose the wrong biblical figure. If More is setting up an impossible goal for the reader (and I believe he is) then he is more emulation God and Christ than anyone else. Isn't that exactly what God does? Set up a set of impossible expectation, knowing full well that we will fail and fail often. The purpose of such expectations is to keep trying and never stop striving for perfection. In that light is More really mocking the reader, or is he just challenging the reader to constantly strive for the best?
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