The Basis of Utopia Essay -- Utopia Utopias Essays

The Basis of Utopia An impractical scheme for social improvement. This is the third definition of the word utopia in the Mirriam-Webster dictionary. Anatole France says it best with this quote regarding utopian societies, „Without the Utopias of other times, men would still live in caves, miserable and naked. It was Utopians that traced the lines of the first city · Out of generous dreams come beneficial realities. Utopia is the principle of all progress, and the essay into a better future.„ The world has been constantly changing over time, new ideas pave paths that lead to better living. Most of the ideas are expressed through science fiction stories written by authors looking to change the world in some way or another. Authors begin with an idea, and then move towards placement of thought and scheme into somewhat of a reasonable reality. Authors such as Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Octavia Butler use the stories they write as ways to express their problems that they have with the present world. Advances in the present day world can only be reached through dreams and desires. These dreams and desires come to life as authors present their ideas on paper. Take for example, the story „Herland.†° It was written by a women‚s activist writer named Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1915. The story is written about a secret society of women that have been kept separate from the rest of the world. The women reproduce by natural childbirth, therefore no father is needed to create life. This is known as Parthogenesis, or spontaneous conception, much like the way Mary was impregnated in the bible. To most people during the time the story was written, this was not viewed as anything near a perfect world. However, to a woman involved in the ea... ...the faults of humans in thinking we are the superior race, when in doing so, we neglect the beings that are „beneath us.†° While the idea of the word utopia is universal, the actual stories that derive from that idea can be very different in nature. The outcome, or even the basis of the story, relies completely upon the authors, or readers view of a prefect society. This is how progress is made, through ideas and thoughts of revolutionary writers in stories we have come to call "utopian." Bibliography Butler, Octavia ." Bloodchild." The Prentice Hall Anthology Sscience Fiction and Fantasy. Ed. Garyn Roberts. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2001. 1035-1048. Personal Site. Henry W. Targowski and Charly Jungbauer. <http://www.euro.net/mark-space/index.html> Perkins Gilman, Charlotte. Herland. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, 1998.