THOMAS MORE, UTOPIA

Answers

For discussion, p. 133 (Literary Links, vol. 2)

1 Among the things which make Utopia possible are the co-operative, positive attitudes of the people, a small, controlled population, the absence of vices and parasitism, the seeming absence of ambition or desire for power, wealth and position. Obstacles would include: participation in an international trade economy, particularly the need to import essential goods; the presence of human failings such as dishonesty, laziness, tendency to vice, envy, boredom, desire for power, hatred etc.

2 It might be fairly repetitive and monotonous, without significant highs or lows, it would lack certain perverse pleasures derived from competition (feelings of uniqueness, superiority to others etc.), it might be demanding, highly disciplined and intellectually stimulating, it might provide the basis for real communication between people.

3 Individualism though it might continue to exist in the private sphere would be destructive as a public or social practice, threatening the principles of equality on which Utopian society is based. A society like Utopia can only function by minimising the degrees of difference between individuals.

4 In our society luxury goods provide a form of diversion from and compensation for the alienating conditions of working life. One might argue that it would be difficult to eliminate such goods without altering the whole structure of society. Passive forms of entertainment provide relaxation from the physical and psychological stresses of work. If stress was eliminated from work, such entertainment might not be necessary and people, because less tired, might take pleasure in more active and stimulating pursuits. Luxury goods and entertainments are also the motor of the consumer economy, whose desirability is normally ensured by a corresponding production of boredom and alienation in daily life. Raphael's argument provides the basis for their elimination on the grounds that life in Utopia is organised so that there is no time or cause for boredom or dissatisfaction. Here, the real needs of the people come first and outweigh those of the economy.

Thematic: The Politics of Everyday Life

· More's Utopia presents the organisation of social life as a desirable aim. By regulating hours of work and conditioning the use of leisure time, the hope is to ensure the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. Yet however attractive it sounds on paper, More's world as a whole seems ill-equipped to deal with the heterogeneity and perversity of the real world. Moreover, despite its appearance of equality, it also depends on maintaining a slave caste to do the work that nobody else wants to do.

· The question of freedom in More's Utopia is also an ambiguous and limited one: 'they're free to do what they like - not to waste their time in idleness or self-indulgence but to make good use of it in some congenial activity'. Presumably the non-alienated six-hour-working day leaves the Utopians with enough energy to use their free time actively and fruitfully to 'improve' themselves, rather than lose themselves in mindless distraction.

• Measuring the logic of Utopian life against that of the real world can provide some interesting ideas for reflection. We might for example consider the economic logic of Utopia's six-hour working day in relation to the transformation of labour that took place during the 19th century, thinking perhaps also of the opening quatrain of Shakespeare's 'Sonnet 60' in relation to the march of progress, rising standards of living, and their perceived, and real, effect on the quality of life.

'Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,

So do our minutes hasten to their end,

Each changing place with that which goes before;

In sequent toil all forwards, do contend'

• Equally we might try to measure the distance between the organisational model proposed in Utopia with that proposed in Huxley's Brave New World where education and self-improvement are considered dangerous for all but the elite alpha class, and great efforts are made to ensure a constant 'diet' of mindless distraction and drug-induced 'wellbeing' for all.

· Another point to consider is the relationship between the development of increasingly sophisticated and rational forms of organisation and the emergence and subsequent decline of the individual consciousness, from Hamlet's search for a meaning to the question of 'being' to Philip Larkin's rejection, because of their fundamental lack of all the devices society places between the individual and his essential mortal solitude in 'Wants'.