Utopia is probably one of the most demanding
books I’ve ever read. Not only the writing style of Thomas More is so specific,
but this particular novel challenged my own ideas. Anyway, Utopia was always
one of those books that have been sitting on my to-be-read list for years, and
I did mean to actually read it. I finally got to read it due to the ClassicsClub Spin #13. I won’t hide though that I wasn’t too thrilled with my luck with
this spin. So, I reluctantly read it, and even more reluctantly I’m reviewing
it.
Utopia literally means “a place that doesn’t
exist” although today this is a word with an entirely different meaning. So
when Thomas More is describing the distant land of Utopia he is talking about a
civilization that doesn’t exist. And can’t exist, if I might add. Anyway, let’s
take things from the very beginning. Thomas More travelled abroad and in this
particular travel a friend of his acquainted him to Raphael Hythloday, who had
just returned from his travels all around the world. He had seen many wonders,
but the one thing that deeply moved him was Utopia. And so, after the urging of
the writer he described every aspect of this ideal society.
We made no inquiries
after monsters, than which nothing is more common; for everywhere one may hear
of ravenous dogs and wolves, and cruel men-eaters, but it is not so easy to
find states that are well and wisely governed, declared Thomas More. This is completely
true, and if there were such an ideal society, I’d love to hear everything
there is to it. The rest of the book is the narration of Raphael of what he
witnessed during his stay in Utopia.
But how is the Utopian society so much
different? How can such an ideal society exist? How can all of the citizens be
content with just a single system? These are the questions that still torture
me. Before anything else, I have to admit that I am not a political person. I
have my beliefs but I’m never too passionate about them. Well, Utopia made me realize how much I care
when they are talking about the most important thing for me: personal freedom.
First of all, in the island of Utopia there is
no such thing as a property. All of the goods are stored in warehouses and
given equally to all of the citizens. The houses do not own locks, as every ten
years the Utopians change houses. The objective of each citizen is to offer
something to the society. The most important job in Utopia is agriculture and
for this reason everyone has to spend at least two years in the countryside in
order to learn the craft. They also learn other crafts, such as carpentry and
weaving. Only a select few, who show a tendency for learning during their early
years, learn how to read and go on to become officials and priests.
For me, each of these citizens is the same person
with a different face. There is no fashion - all of them have to wear the same
woven clothes. But this isn’t what bothers me at all! None of them has the
freedom to decide for himself what he would like to do. He has to act solely
for the society. He can’t travel without a special permission, he can’t choose
the way he spends his life, and he can’t have his own views concerning
pleasure. And above all, there is not even a hint of privacy in Utopia. I’ve always esteemed the
individual, and reading all of the above things, I was shaken. Such a society,
for my own way of perceiving the world, would be a nightmare. Even though there
are a few things that I’d love to see in our actual societies, I couldn’t deal
with the absence of the individual.
Another thing that baffled me was that slavery
exists in Utopia. I thought that in
such a society that everyone is trying to offer their best for their society
that there wouldn’t be in need of slavery. The slaves are doing all of the hard
labour and they are either prisoners of war, or Utopians that broke their law.
They find it such a disgraceful thing since they could not be restrained by the
advantages of so excellent an education, and so they are judged
worthy of harder usage. For my ideal society slavery should never exist.
As for the good
parts of Utopia there are still
things that even today we find controversial. The first issue is free health
care. What is more important in a society than to offer to the citizens
hospitals and care whenever they need it? Another issue is euthanasia. Well,
this is definitely a controversial one. Should one decide whether he wants to
die? We have still a long way to go, until we truly realize the mindset and the
suffering of these people. Other things that I liked are premarital sex and
divorce. Yes, nowadays they are so common, but this book was published in 1516.
I wouldn’t go as far as punishing adultery with slavery, though.
Utopia was an interesting read. It wasn’t an easy one
(imagine if I’d read it in Latin!) and it did challenge my own views more than
a few times. The problem I had was that its ideas are so different from the
fundamental view of the world that I have. Nevertheless, I realize why this is
an important book. I’m sure that when it was published those very same ideas
were revolutionary, even unthinkable. Be prepared for a book with an argument
after another, complex sentences and many ideas that will challenge your
worldview.
