The Needs Or Ideals In Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

Since the age of Thomas Moore, intellectuals have been fascinated by the idea of an ideal society where all is well and total happiness is readily available to all of its members. Such ideals of a ‘utopia’ continued throughout the centuries until it reached a major pivoting point in the nineteenth century. Historical events such as the Second World War, the Cold War, the emergence of McCarthyism, and the creation of a nuclear bomb left people with a heavily misanthropic view of the world. People started to question the practicality or realistic possibility of a utopian society, thus creating the genre of dystopian literature. (Gerhard, 2012)

Brook Farm was a Utopian community in America during the time of the 1800s. Utopias were meant to be a new age in human civilization. Brook Farm was founded by Unitarian minister George Ripley, a famous journalist born in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Brook Farm was a Utopia that did not practice a religion. When a Utopian is created, the purpose is to make a community where everyone is assigned a job based on their skills to make goods.

Thu Quach Joseph Foster Mosaics 2 14 December 2016 Karl Marx & Sir Thomas More Utopia and The Communist Manifesto are two different pieces of work with different perspectives regarding society, Marx and More share similar theories about ownership. Ownership is a tangible asset that a person has complete control and authority over. Marx’s approach towards ownership is more aggressive and demanding, whereas More 's approach is much more amicable. Utopia, written by More, discusses a man 's journey to a new society that is considered nearly perfect. Raphael Hythloday an acquaintance of more’s discussed his travels throughout various parts of the world, ultimately stumbling across a land called Utopia.

Utopia can be a place be imagined as a dreamscape where everything is perfect. Jonas, a boy who lives in a counterfeit utopia, heads out to discover the truth about his community. Jonas lives in a community where everyone is expected to be the same; therefore, they wear the same bland white clothing. The community is strictly controlled by rules. In this essay I will discuss about a novel called The Giver.

Utopian societies are never perfect and in reality, many fall short of what perfect societies should convey. Many utopian societies conveyed in novels introduce the bright side of the society, but those utopias also contain a disturbing side to their existence. Utopias that are conveyed in novels such as Divergent and “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman” have differences such as their culture, environment, and overall setup, while simultaneously having similarities with their foundations. Many sources support the claim of utopias, such as the short story “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman” by Harlan Ellison.

Wes Moore’s A Utopian society is a world that is considered perfect. Unfortunately , a society that is seeking perfection usually becomes a dystopian society . A dystopian society that is dehumanizing and as unpleasing a possible. Harrison Bergeron ‘ s world and N. korea both shared these traits.

The idea of a “utopia” is a description of a perfect society, something without any flaws and all people within it live in perfect harmony. In Thomas More’s work Utopia, he depicts a “perfect society” as told by his friend Raphael Hythloday who was an experienced traveler. He tells of Utopia to be an island located in the new world, and then proceeds to give very thorough details about the ideals and lifestyle of the city. Throughout his piece, More describes this Utopia in comparison with the current European society of his own day. With each chapter and summary of the ideals or customs of the Utopians, More seems to favor the Utopian society over his own (hence him titling his work Utopia).

In many novels such as 1984 by George Orwell, they use the ideas of an almost perfect or a non-perfect world or society. Orwell portrays two types of utopias in his novel, 1984 but they can be seen as both, depending on what aspect the reader is looking at. A utopian society is an imagined place or state in which everything appears perfect to a certain point. A dystopian society is a conceived place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degrading society. Orwell uses Winston Smith to project the utopian society, he has made by showing how it affects the people.

Humankind has always dreamed of a happy, prosperous life and tried to find stable bases of social relations as well as tried to agree on rules of coexistence. Evidence of this can be found in the most ancient sources. One of the first descriptions of fair social life are in the famous works of ancient Greece thinkers (Hamedi Dashti 2014). In the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the question of the optimal social structure was embodied in various social projects.

Most of us know the saying, “you can’t please everybody,” but isn’t that what a utopia is? A utopia is a society or way of life that satisfies every citizen within a society: no suffering, no conflict, no disorder, etc. However, the saying is right, there is no way to please absolutely everyone. People have conflicting opinion and disagreements are inevitable. In order to create a perceived utopia, one must take control of the society and satisfy the population, but it would be impossible to please all individuals, many of whom have different wants or needs.