How is Bellamy's Utopia Convincing?

One of the biggest issues I’m having with this novel is reconciling the concept of the utopian society Bellamy presents us with. By definition, a utopia can be described as an ideal or visionary system of political, social, or moral perfection. By its very nature, a utopia is impossibly idealistic and impractical. Because Bellamy chose to use this utopian model as a vehicle for presenting his ideas on social and economic reform, he is vulnerable to the strengths and weaknesses of the medium itself. This is the same problem that Bellamy foresaw, that his audience might not be entirely receptive to his critiques of the way they live their lives, and it is the reason why he chose to structure the novel in the way that he did. In Looking Backward, Bellamy’s voice is thinly disguised as Dr. Leete, explaining and trying to convince both Julian and the reader of the advantages of society in the year 2000.

Bellamy was aware that his audience would be shocked by some of the very radical ideas he was presenting, and did the best he could to soften the blow. In order to alleviate the harsh critiques Bellamy presents, he often notes that it was ignorance that caused such inefficient and illogical systems. Because reading and book ownership were part of the culture of the upper class, they would have been the main audience Bellamy would be writing to. Throughout the novel he continues to refer to the lower echelon of 19^th century society in negative terms, highlighting their poverty and brutality, and thus appealing to his main readership of upper class society members in that they would no longer have to deal with the scum of the lower classes.

Bellamy also uses the framing of the novel to emphasize and further his argument. Julian West is transported to the 21^st century via hypnosis. Although Bellamy may have chosen hypnosis simply because it was a popular phenomenon at the time, the implications of such a liminal state are interesting to explore. As we discussed in class, perhaps this method of sleep represents the mental state of mind of the general public of the 19^th century as Bellamy perceives it. It is as if the people are asleep, unaware and dormant in terms of their political and social involvement and concern. He hopes that with this novel, he will reawaken them to the economic, social, and political issues and the implications they have on the future of the nation. In ending the novel with a nightmare of returning back to the 19^th century, Bellamy hopes the readers will be awakened from the trance of his utopic world convinced of the social and political reforms he presented.

What kind of a utopia is Bellamy presenting? Although Bellamy goes to great lengths in his attempt to present a ‘perfect’ future in order to expose the problems of the 19^th century and possibly solutions, he fails to explain how such a radical evolution would occur. What is the significance of this? Is his creation realistic? Does Bellamy himself believe it to be possible to attain such a society? How persuasive is the world he creates for both his audience of the 19^th century and readers today?

Power in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

I am curious to explore the concept of power in Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. More specifically, I was interested in pursuing the theme of power in relation to Hank, and how his constant quest of power is obtained, retained, manifest, and its limits in 6^th century Arthurian England. The majority of Hank’s power stems from the fact that he is from the future, thus providing him with a plethora of knowledge in terms of historic, scientific, social, and technological occurrences centuries beyond the people of Camelot that allow him to rise up the social ladder.

Although we know very little about Hank’s life in the 19^th century, we are privy to the fact that he was the superintendant at an arms factory in Connecticut. The fact that he comes from a working class family, with a father who was a blacksmith and an uncle who was a horse doctor, implies that he lived a life of hard work in the middle class (Twain 36). Hank looks back at one point in the novel to examine what he would amount to in the 20^th century: “I should be foreman of a factory, that is about all; and could drag a seine down-street any day and catch a hundred men better than myself” (86). Although he isn’t in a place within society to exert much power in the 19^th century, once he arrives in Camelot he takes advantage of his situation and quickly begins his pursuit of obtaining power and a place in the 6^th century.

What is it about the 6^th century that allows Hank so much power? He is ultimately the same person he was, but Arthurian England provides him with the opportunity to exert power in a way he wasn’t able to in the 19^th century. He is in the upper echelon of Arthurian society in terms of his breadth of knowledge, reason, cunning, and manipulative powers. Ultimately, it is time itself that provides Hank with the necessary tools to gain rank in Camelot. It was his transport to a past era that gives Hank him the upper hand in Arthurian culture. Much of Hank’s power is rooted in the fact that he is a product of the future, of a civilization with thirteen hundred years of innovation and progress under its belt. He uses his knowledge of history, science, and technology as a means of obtaining power.

He uses his knowledge of such innovations of the 19^th century to his advantage. One of the most prominent and effective ways in which Hank obtains power is through his use of spectacle, effect, and theatrics. From his knowledge of the eclipse in Chapter 6, Hank is able to manipulate both his knowledge and the people of the 6^th century in order to gain power in society as a powerful magician and The Boss. After Hank “solidified his power” with the eclipse event, he comes to the realization that he “was just as much at home in that century as I could have been in any other. …Look at the opportunities here for a man of knowledge, brains, pluck, and enterprise to sail in and grow up with the country” (86). From the moment when he uses his knowledge of the eclipse to frighten the community as to the extent and reach of his supposed powers, to Merlin’s tower, the Holy Fountain, Hank rises in rank from prisoner to his place among the noble elite of the monarchy. He brings dynamite, smoking, telephones, matches, and firearms, among other things, to a time and place in history where they don’t belong, and won’t even come into being for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Without such foreknowledge of technologic innovations, Hank would be ill-equipped to perform such seemingly epic and magic events, thus destroying the very origins of his power.

Introduction

My name is Stephannie Franks, and I am a senior Lit major at the University of Redlands. I started this blog for a Time Travel and Literary Temporality class, and will be posting blogs related to our readings and assignments.

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