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Marlon Bustamante Ms. Stirton AP English, Per 6 May 8, 2013 Utopia Draft Utopia is seen as a radical idea. However, people enjoy the thought about a society with no problems, sicknesses, or depression. Even though, utopia does sound like a wonderful idea, it may not be as it seems. Suppose I should maintain that men choose a king, not for his sake, but for theirs that they may live comfortably and safely. (from Utopia, Sir Thomas More, Senior Reader, Pg. 9) In the time of Sir Thomas More, people had much trust in the monarch and believed that the monarch would keep them safe. Utopia is an account of how a kingdom was seen as a utopia. However, Sir Thomas More describes the discontent and protest that the poor have. The poor are the ones that always argue and create disorder. While the kingdom was seen as a utopia, through the eyes of the ones living there, it was far from a utopian society. Utopia is the idea of no problems or worries. It can also be interpreted as the idea of everyone being equal. Utopia cannot be achieved because it cannot help with the human development, it will suppress people from being who they are, and it will not lead to a true ideal utopia. A thought of utopia is that everyone is equal. Equality can be interpreted into many different subjects. Equality can pertain to knowledge. If knowledge was suppressed to keep everyone intellectually the same, people would be in a state of depression and society would not run reliably. In Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut Jr, everyone was finally equal. In the year 2081, people had some sort of handicap to suppress their knowledge or physical ability. This kept any one person from being too strong, smart, or even prevented a revolution. George Bergeron said that the performing ballerinas were not really very good-no better than anybody else would have been (Harrison Bergeron, Kurt Vonnegut Jr, Senior Reader, Pg. 203) Even for entertainment, people were handicapped so that not one person was a better dancer than a person from the audience. A news reporter had a speech impediment. He was taken off the air and replaced with a ballerina. Harrison Bergeron is one of the smartest people. He was sent to jail in fear that he would start a rebellion. Harrison gave a message that talent is beautiful. Harrison wants handicaps abolished so that people can live the way they want to live. By suppressing knowledge, people cannot be an individual and express their thoughts. Equality has to be regulated somehow. It seems ironic, but to be equal, there has to be some sort of system that prevents someone from gaining power. Having a system requires someone to conduct the regulations. In Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, the whole world went into an attempt of utopia. People were always happy and had an assigned way of life. This attempt of utopia had a higher power that controlled what went on. Scientists would do their best to keep people from knowing the truth and

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morality of the way they lived. The only positive that came out of the way people were conditioned was that dying was part of life, and even in death, a person has a purpose. The people were conditioned to think that everyone was equal in purpose even though some people were put into different classes and worked different types of jobs. People cannot be entitled to self-regulate equality on their own. In some ways, communism can be seen as a utopia. Pure communism, where everything is distributed equally, and there are no classes can fit into a definition of utopia. There are drawbacks to having a communist society though. The immediate aim of the Communists is the same as that of all other proletarian parties: formation of the proletariat into a class, overthrow of the bourgeois supremacy, conquest of political power by the proletariat. (Communist Manifesto, Senior Reader, Pg. 69) This quote shows the fear people have about communist societies. Communism is usually associated with anarchy or chaos since there is no government. The fear of communism is that people will rise up and start a rebellion and riot. A society where all the wealth is shared can cause people to become lazy or keep people from working hard. Everyone shares the same wealth and earns the same pay, so there is no incentive to work hard or to achieve a higher profession. Communism is more about the state than the individual. With the communism seen today, the leaders do what is best for the country as a whole, instead of what is best for individuals. Putting the state in top priority of the people might not reflect the needs of certain groups of people. If a majority of a communist society is wealthy, the communist leader might not try to help those suffering in poverty since they are not reflected in the majority of the society. A capitalist society can also be seen as a society that can achieve utopia. A capitalist society is a society where private companies focus on making a profit. Private companies prioritize on themselves and the company, rather than others. and our efforts to build a "profitable" capitalist world blind our foreign policy to mankind's needs and destiny. (Port Huron Statement, Senior Reader, Pg. 112) The only way individuals can also make money is to work in a private company or to somehow be involved in the company. For example, an individual can make money if that individual is a shareholder or invested in the company. There are different kinds of capitalism. There is a society that focuses on Laissez-faire or the idea that the government leaves the private companies alone. If the government leaves the companies alone, there would be nothing to stop the company owners from taking advantage of the workers. Companies could also become a monopoly and dominate a market. All this focus on money deviates from the need to help people with economic hardships and help those suffering with their social problems. Utopia is impossible to achieve. A society where problems dont exists, wealth is not an issue, and everyone is treated the same cannot be achieved. The process of trying to achieve utopia can be dangerous. Humans were meant to be free. Regulating and ensuring that people wont try to become better than anyone else suppresses that person from wanting to be the person they were meant to be. Also as humans, conflicts are always necessary. Conflicts help bring an agreement that would satisfy those involved in the conflict. Conflict is what helped the United States become what it is.

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Without the conflict between the colonists and England, the colonist would not have revolted and declared Independence. In Brave New World, those that lived on the reservation seemed to live a better life than those that live in the World State. On the reservation, people are closer to one another and close to nature. In the World State people are conditioned to hate nature so that they will always work. Utopia is impossible to achieve because if life is easy and relaxing, productivity will decline. People need a purpose to be productive. If life is easy, people will not be productive. Life must be difficult or challenging. This will help people achieve a goal and become satisfied by the challenges that was in their way. Humans need challenges and difficulties to evolve and become adapt. Challenges help people to work hard. People will work hard towards a dream or goal that the person really wants to achieve. Utopia cannot be achieved since there are no challenges. Change and productivity come from working hard. The people that everyone looks up to are the ones that are successful. Those people got to their position from working through challenges and difficulties. They set a model for people to follow to try and live up to their dreams and goals. People need a challenge to increase their knowledge and to get a feel of accomplishment.

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Works Cited

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Harper Collins Pblishers, Inc., 1932. Marx, Karl, Fredrick Engles. Manifesto of the Communist Party. Digital Safari Academy Senior Reader, February, 2013. Hayden, Tom, Sen. "Port Huron Statement of the Students for a Democratic Society." Port Huron Statement of the Students for a Democratic Society, 1962. Vonnegut, Kurt. Harrison Bergeron. Elements of Literature: Third Course. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2007. More, Sir Thomas. Utopia. Ed. Robert M. Adams. New York: Norton and Company, 1992.