Brenna Dimas

05-12-05

ENG 112B

R (4:00)

Encouraging Social Awareness and Betterment through Utopian Philosophy

The centuries-old fascination with utopias is suggested by the Greek origin of the word, which includes two meanings, �no place� and �good place.� Most of us, in idle moments, dream of a perfect land, a perfect society, a place that would solve all our personal problems and, if we are altruistic enough, all the world�s problems as well (Donelson 223).

In a world that seems to grow more corrupt and dangerous with each passing day, the ability to hope and imagine �something better� has become increasingly important. However, optimism today, instead of being cherished and praised, is often considered a negative peculiarity�a sign of na�vet� and inexperience that reality, in the end, will rightly eliminate. Conversely, cynicism is regarded as practical and rational.

In scorning optimism, society is essentially agreeing to accept the world as it is�agreeing to tolerate social inequalities, environmental destruction, human rights violations and a myriad of other deplorable global realities�while discouraging those who are dissatisfied and eager to change the world from doing so. As mentors, teachers posses the ability to counteract such negative characterizations of optimism and hope so that young adults might escape the cynicism that pervades today�s culture. Though it is clich� to say so, it is important to recognize that the children are our future�that they are the people who will someday change the world or maintain the status quo. Thus, it is vital that young adults be equipped with both the ability to recognize that which is less-than-ideal within society and the belief in their power to enact change.

Introducing young adults to the utopian genre is one way in which teachers can achieve these objectives. A utopia is defined as �any condition, place, or situation of social and political perfection� (Morris 1411). By opening a discussion about such an ideal world, a teacher can accomplish three significant things: 1) a teacher can encourage students to consider what is �wrong� with present-day society instead of blindly accepting it; 2) a teacher can motivate students to consider how they might change society in order to achieve �social and political perfection� (Morris 1411); and 3) a teacher can inspire students to transform the world�to make it a better place.

Of central importance to the utopian genre is the canonical text The Republic written by the Greek philosopher, Plato, around 380 B.C.E. Quite possibly the first utopian text, The Republic is written as a dialogue �between Socrates and Thrasymachus and Glaucon and a number of other characters� (Poretsky) in which the �perfect state� is used as an allegory for the �perfect soul.� The perfect state is discussed in great detail; Socrates and the others define, among other things, the different classes that make up the state, the jobs within the state, the importance (that is, the unimportance) of the family, and censorship of the arts. That Socrates� �perfect state� is, in fact, perfect is debatable (especially among modern readers), but the importance of Plato�s text cannot be overlooked: The significance of Plato�s Republic lies in the suggestion that, though the world is imperfect, it is within the realm of philosophy, and perhaps even that of possibility, to change such imperfections.

Launching the unit

Before reading and discussing The Republic with your students, consider using one or more of the following as a pre-reading and anticipatory activity.

1. Discussion questions or questions for students� writing journals

a. How do you define the word �utopia�? What do you think of when you hear the word? Are there specific connotations to the word? If so, are they negative or positive? Explain.

b. What about your community, society, and/or world do you dislike? What about your community, society, and/or world do you wish you could change? Are they the same things? Why, or why not? How would you go about changing these things? Is your list made up of �little things� or �big things� or both? What does your list suggest about you as a person?

c. If you were President for a day what laws would you enact or change? Explain the importance of your changes to the government. Look back at your answer: how did you decide on the changes you made?

d. Make three lists of 10: 1) Write a list of ten things that you are thankful for. 2) Write a list of 10 things you would never want to live without. 3) Write a list of 10 things you think everyone should have.

2. Read the illustrated book I Have a Dream (the text of this book is taken from Martin Luther King, Jr.�s famous speech and is illustrated by 15 Coretta Scott King Award and Honor Book Artists). Have students discuss whether or not they would consider the speech as belonging to a utopian genre. Also, have students consider the underlying implications of the speech: How does Martin Luther King, Jr. envision the future of America? What were the political realities at the time he gave the speech? Has America changed since he gave the speech? If yes, how has it changed? Will Martin Luther King, Jr.�s dream ever be realized?

3. In the campus� computer lab, have students initiate an online search of the word �utopia.� They should take note of what kinds of websites the search yields: How and why is the word �utopia� related to each of the websites? Looking at the many different types of websites the search yields, what can you infer about the word itself? What might the word mean for each of the creators of the separate sites?

4. Assign your students a mini research project in which they research an example of a utopian text. Then, have them give brief presentations in class about the text (summary of text, how it is utopian). After everyone has presented his/her project, discuss if there are any connections between the various texts. A list of possible texts to be assigned can be found online at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia#Religious_utopias.

The Text

The Republic is neither an easy nor a quick read. The text is very dense and requires the full attention of the reader. Also, it demands that the reader visualize and internalize many abstract concepts. Because of this, it is important to hold class discussions in which the students talk about the surface meanings of the text nearly as often as they talk about its internal meanings and implications.

In 1993, Lois Lowry wrote a book called The Giver. Lowry�s story is, arguably, a response to Plato�s Republic in which she establishes the perfect state as Socrates describes it in order to demonstrate its undesirability and imperfections. This book can be used to help students visualize/internalize Socrates� perfect state. Brief sections of The Giver can be assigned simultaneously with The Republic so that any new ideas introduced within Socrates� dialogue can be �seen in action� within Lowry�s story. Because The Giver is relatively short, it could be read in its entirety following the completion of The Republic instead of (or along with) the aforementioned simultaneous assignment option.

Extending the Unit

A simple and effective way to extend the unit is to give students Young Adult texts from the utopian genre. In this way, students continue their exploration of political and social imperfections as well as their exploration of the different ideals of different people (in this case Young Adult Literature authors). Equally interesting are YA texts from the dystopian genre. Though presented in a different manner, these books also focus on what various authors believe to be the issues in modern politics and society. Many authors use the compelling dystopian genre to warn modern readers about the ramifications of their choices, especially those made at the political or social level.

To extend the unit, students can read the YA novels individually and then write simple book reports that focus on the utopian/dystopian elements of the novels. Another option is to assign at least three students the same story to read outside of class. During class, the students reading the same book can meet and discuss the text. After they finish reading the book, they can make a creative group presentation that demonstrates an important theme or issue the text discusses. Creative ideas could range from a dramatic recreation of a scene in the book to a performance of a song they wrote about the book or an interactive game of charades in which they pantomime some of the major themes of the book and have the class guess those themes.

Young Adult Literature Selections Include

The following annotations are taken from the popular online bookstore, Amazon.com, unless otherwise noted. The full citation for Amazon.com appears in the Works Cited section below.

� Gathering Blue and The Messenger by Lois Lowry: [Gathering Blue, a companion to The Giver,] takes place in a village with only the most rudimentary technology, where anger, greed, envy, and casual cruelty make ordinary people's lives short and brutish. This society�is controlled by merciless authorities with their own complex agendas and secrets. And at the center of [the story] there is [Kira] who is given the responsibility of preserving the memory of the culture�and who finds the vision to transform it. [In The Messenger, the third book in the trilogy, the protagonist] Matty came to Village years ago when it was a safe haven. However, sinister changes are taking place. At Trade Mart, the citizens begin trading away their souls for their hearts' desires, and a wall is planned to keep out immigrants. Matty must journey into hostile, malevolent Forest to fetch his friend, Kira, before Village closes its borders.

� The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer: [In the empire run by drug lords, Opium,] field work, or any menial tasks, are done by "eejits," humans in whose brains computer chips have been installed to insure docility. [Clones, like Matt, are harvested for organs, their intelligence] usually destroyed at birth, but Matt, has been spared because he belongs to [the drug lord] El Patron. He grows up in the family's mansion, alternately caged and despised as an animal and pampered and educated as El Patron's favorite�he escapes to Aztlan. There he and other "lost children" are trapped in a more subtle kind of slavery before Matt can return to Opium to take his rightful place and transform his country.

� Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy: [This is not a standard Young Adult text. It is a] feminist science fiction novel in which the protagonist must act to win the utopian future over an alternative, dystopian, one. (wikipedia.org)

Other Utopian/Dystopian Books and Media Include

The following annotations are taken from the popular online bookstore, Amazon.com. The full citation for this website appears in the Works Cited section below.

� Utopia by Thomas More: "Utopia" means, literally, "no place". The word didn't exist until More coined it in this book. He wanted to make a critic regarding the English society of his time, but needed to cloak it under a "fictional" mantle due to censure. Displeasing the king was very dangerous in More's time...More introduces us to an imaginary character, Raphael Hythloday, a traveler that has visited a distant country: Utopia. After meeting More, Raphael tells him about the country he visited, and afterwards More writes a book about what he was told.

� Gulliver�s Travels by Jonathan Swift: Gulliver's Travels describes the four fantastic voyages of Lemuel Gulliver, a kindly ship's surgeon. His travels take him to Lilliput where he is a giant observing tiny people. In Brobdingnag, the tables are reversed and he is the tiny person in a land of giants where he is exhibited as a curiosity at markets and fairs. The flying island of Laputa is the scene of his next voyage. The people plan and plot as their country lies in ruins. It is a world of illusion and distorted values. The fourth and final voyage takes him to the home of the Houyhnhnms, gentle horses who rule the land. He also encounters Yahoos, filthy bestial creatures who resemble humans.

� The Matrix dir. Wachowski Brothers: Set in the not too distant future in an insipid, characterless city, we find a young man named Neo [who] sits alone at home by his monitor, waiting for a sign, a signal�from what or whom he doesn't know�until one night, a mysterious woman named Trinity seeks him out and introduces him to that faceless character he has been waiting for: Morpheus. A messiah of sorts, Morpheus presents Neo with the truth about his world by shedding light on the dark secrets that have troubled him for so long�ultimately, Morpheus illustrates to Neo what the Matrix is�a reality beyond reality that controls all of their lives, in a way that Neo can barely comprehend.

Concluding Activities

It is important that the conclusion of a unit shifts the focus from the text to the students; it should emphasize the unit�s significance and validate the time and effort the students put into the material. In the case of this unit, the concluding activity should solidify students� belief in their ability to accurately identify flaws within their social and political systems and empower them to enact change. One possibility for a concluding activity is to have students write letters to their political representatives. Referring back to their journal entries written at the unit�s launch (or assigning the journal questions for the first time) and any other entries they may have made over the course of the unit, have students identify a specific social/political/global reality that they have a strong desire to change. Have students draft a letter to the politician most likely to help them realize their desired change. The students� letters should clearly identify what they see as �the problem� as well as a plausible solution to the problem.

In a similar vein, this unit could be concluded with an activity that compels students to take an active role in their community. As a class, the students can choose one social/political/global reality that they wish to change. It can be big or small, so long as it involves all the students working towards a common goal. For example, the students might decide that they would like to make the school campus more environmentally-friendly and pleasing to the eye. In this case, have the students organize a campus beautification day, write to the local recycling center and request a donation of recycling bins, and/or design and create signs asking people to stay off the grass. Other ideas include volunteering as a class at a local soup kitchen or fundraising for a world relief cause. Again, the point of the activity is to help students realize that if they so choose�if they remain optimistic in the face of cynicism, if they subscribe to the view that utopia means �good place� rather than �no place�they can begin to change the flawed world into an ideal one.

Works cited

<http://www.amazon.com>.

Donelson Kenneth L. and Aileen Pace Nilsen. Literature for Today�s Young Adults. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc., 2005

Farmer, Nancy. The House of the Scorpion. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2002.

King, Jr., Dr. Martin Luther. I Have a Dream. New York: Scholastic Press, 1997.

Lowry, Lois. Gathering Blue. USA: Laurel Leaf Books, 2000.

---. The Giver. USA: Laurel Leaf Books, 1993.

---. The Messenger. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004.

The Matrix. Dir. Wachowski Brothers. Perf. Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Hugo Weaving. Warner Bros., 1999.

More, Thomas. Utopia. New York: Dover Publications, 1997.

Morris, William ed. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1976.

Piercy, Marge. Woman on the Edge of Time. New York: Fawcett, 1985.

Plato. The Republic. New York: Dover Publications, 2000.

Poretsky, H. Solomon. �A Kindler Gentler Republic: The Effects of Plato�s Republic on Thomas More�s Utopia.� Thomas More. 2005. 5 May. 2005 <http://www.d-holliday.com/tmore/plato.htm>.

Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver�s Travels. New York: Dover Publications, 1996.

�Utopia� Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 2005. 5 May. 2005. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia#Religious_utopias>.