The Utopia Reader

When many authors write of a utopia , the question arises of how the community in the utopian society should be organized . A utopia is generally referred to as an idyllic place , but can also be referred to as simply a community in which all things run smoothly . A utopian society , in a sense , is in the eye of the beholder ' In modern works , such as Orwell 's 1984 , the community is organized into well divided hierarchies , with the most powerful people at the top controlling all aspects of the society . These people have

all they could ever need and although they control the entire society , Orwell never really describes what they , as individuals , are like . On the other end of this spectrum is the majority of citizens , which live with daily fear , anger and suspicion at most of what is around them . There is no love , no loyalty to one another , only to the ruling party . This society is , in a sense , a utopia , for those running it

Aldous Huxley 's version of utopia which he sets out in Brave New World is much the same as Orwell 's in respect to the power structure and the elite 's treatment of their citizens . In this version of utopia , Huxley describes a world in which , like 1984 , all people are divided into a hierarchical structure of which there is no escape . Individuals are free in as much as they think of themselves as being free , but when they begin thinking too much , there is soma to turn to , which lets them know that everything is alright . This sort of society too , is run by an elite group which controls all the process of the community , including the birth and personality of individuals

Plato 's version of utopia which he sets out in the Republic , from which More was much inspired , has many of the same characteristics as 1984 and Brave New World society is specially divided into definite classes which , depended on which you are put into , determine how your life will be lived

All of these utopian societies have the same fundamental principle that sacrifices in individual freedoms are necessary for the greater good of the utopian ideal . More 's version of utopia is no different . There is not the freedom to do as one s in More 's Utopia . The most severe punishment for acts forbidden by the society is to forever become a slave . And slavery , which most would not equate as a necessity in a utopia , is common in More 's version . Petty desires such as gambling astrology and makeup are all banished in Utopia . Premarital sex is forbidden . And if one desires to travel throughout the island , a passport is required . The punishment if caught without a passport is to be put into slavery . And although it is possible to be freed for good behavior once one has been put into slavery , it probably would not happen very often considering the necessity of slavery for the...