A Modern Utopia
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- [H.G.] Wells's proposal for social reform was the formation of a world state, a concept that would increasingly preoccupy him throughout the remainder of his life. One of his most ambitious early attempts at portraying a world state was A Modern Utopia (1905) (McLean).
- Like most utopists, he has indicated a series of modifications which in his opinion would increase the aggregate of human happines (Review- by A.W.S.). Basically, Wells' idea of a perfect world would be if everyone lived a happy life.
- This book is written with an intimate knowledge of former ideal commonwealths and is a conscious attempt to describe a utopia that is not utopian (Review- by C.M.H.).
- June Deery refers to A Modern Utopia as a work in progress for two obvious reasons: (1) it is about social and technological advance and (2) Wells stresses that he is describing a dynamic Utopia (Deery). This means that this modern society requires and allows further improvement.
"A Modern Utopia" was intended as a hybrid between fiction and 'philosophical discussion'.
I would like to start off by stating that the people of this utopia have to plan “a flexible common compromise, in which a perpetually novel succession of individualities may converge most effectually upon a comprehensive onward development.” That is the first, most generalised difference between a Utopia based upon modern conceptions and all the Utopias that were written in the former time (Wells- ch.1).
A few important facts about this modern Utopia is that the peoples business here is to be Utopian. Also, the modern Utopia must have people inherently the same as those in the world.
There are a few main topics and ideas that I would like to discuss that are fairly important when discussing this modern utopia:
Modern Utopian People: Chapter 1 (Section 6) bumps into their first Utopian man and descibes what he would look like: Not Swiss—but would be on planet Earth. Maybe just a few differences than a human on Earth: same face but, different expression and same physique but, better developed. He would have different habits, knowledge, traditions, clothing, ideas, and different appliances. Besides all that, he would be the same man (Wells- ch.1).
Economy: Chapter 3 (Section 1): What will be the economics of a modern Utopia? Well to start off, most importantly, this utopia needs money. The money in this society is gold, a fair-round size. On one side of the coin there is an inscription that declares it one Lion (American influence—one declares). On the other side of the coin there is "a universal goddess of the Utopian coinage—Peace, as a beautiful woman, reading with a child out of a great book, and behind them are stars, and an hour-glass, halfway run (Wells- ch. 3)." This economy also needs a duodecimal system of counting.
Gender Roles: Chapter 6 (Section 3): This chapter is titled, “Women in a Modern Utopia.” I chose this chapter to discuss because I am very interested in the different gender roles of this particular society. Section 3 makes it clear that women are to be as free as men in this utopia. “It is a fact that almost every point in which a woman differs from a man is an economic disadvantage to her, her incapacity for great stresses of exertion, her frequent liability to slight illnesses, her weaker initiative, her inferior invention and resourcefulness, her relative incapacity for organization and combination, and the possibilities of emotional complications whenever she is in economic dependence on men (Wells- ch. 6).” A woman who is already a mother or pregnant, is as much entitled to wages above the minimum wage, to support, to respect and to freedom. Also, in this utopia, a career of wholesome motherhood would be the normal calling for a woman.
[edit] References
Deery, June. "H.G. Wells's A Modern Utopia as a Work in Progress." Extrapolation (Kent State University Press). 34.3 (1993): 216-229. EBSCO Host. Salem State College Library Databases. Salem, MA. 18 Apr. 2008 http://corvette.salemstate.edu:2561/ehost/pdf?vid=12&hid=7&sid=95448134-8e9e-404c-81d2-8916948b43d8%40sessionmgr8.
"H.G. Wells." The Literature Network. 1 2000-2008. 18 Apr. 2008 http://www.online-literature.com/wellshg/.
McLean, Steven. ""The Fertilising Conflict of Individualities": H. G. Wells's A Modern Utopia, John Stuart Mill's On Liberty, and the..." Papers on Language and Literature. 2 2007. 166. eLibrary. Proquest CSA. Salem State College Library Databases. Salem, MA. 18 Apr 2008 http://corvette.salemstate.edu:2093/libweb/elib/do/document?set=search&urn=urn:bigchalk:US;BCLib;document;140043329.
Review: [untitled], by A. W. S.The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Nov., 1905), pp. 430-431 Published by: The University of Chicago Press. JSTOR. Salem State College Library Databases. Salem, MA. 18 Apr. 2008 http://corvette.salemstate.edu:2289/stable/view/2762801?seq=1&Search=yes&term=modern&term=utopia&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicResults%3Fhp%3D25%26la%3D%26gw%3Djtx%26jcpsi%3D1%26artsi%3D1%26Query%3D%2Ba%2Bmodern%2Butopia%26sbq%3D%2Ba%2Bmodern%2Butopia%26prq%3Dh.g.%2Bwells%2Ba%2Bmodern%2Butopia%26si%3D1%26jtxsi%3D1&item=25&ttl=16097&returnArticleService=showArticle.
Review: [untitled], by C. M. H.The Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 14, No. 9 (Nov., 1906), pp. 581-582 Published by: The University of Chicago Press. JSTOR. Salem State College Library Databases. Salem, MA. 18 Apr. 2008 http://corvette.salemstate.edu:2289/action/showArticle?doi=10.2307/1817655&Search=yes&term=wells&term=modern&term=%22h+g%22&term=utopia&item=16&returnArticleService=showArticle&ttl=619&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Da%2Bmodern%2Butopia%2Bby%2Bh.g%2Bwells%26gw%3Djtx%26prq%3Da%2Bmodern%2Butopia%26hp%3D25.
Wells, H.G.. A Modern Utopia. New York, NY: Penguin Group, 2005.
[edit] External links
- A Modern Utopia, available at Project Gutenberg.
