Individualism Within Utopian and Dystopian Novels

Politics

Thomas More wrote Utopia in 1515 and in the story this place of "utopia" is told to him by a friend who encounters it upon his travels. Utopia is described by Giles, More's friend, as a place where there isn't any social unrest and suffering is nowhere to be found. More seems to have written Utopia with the idea of individual freedom in mind; however, there are some problems with the Utopia that More deemed as perfect. First of all, if More wrote Utopia with individual freedom in mind, then why are individual activities actually discouraged and in its place is favored the communal life? Individualism doesn't seem to be encouraged in More's utopian society as what is held as virtuous is supporting society as a whole and not straying from the values and mores that have been laid out for that society.

In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, there is also a deep lack of encouragement for individual freedom. In this futuristic story, books are completely banned though there really is never any stated reason for this fact. In this society, books are deemed bad while television is the most encouraged form of entertainment. Bradbury has depicted a world, that unfortunately doesn't seem to far off from our present, in that people are addicted to stimulation. Reading seems to be too slow and lacking of the kind of stimulation that individuals need.

In Farhrenheit 451, Montag is a fireman, though fireman in this society set fire to things (books) rather than put out fires. His job, under his boss Beatty, is to kill all of the knowledge that is held inside of these books. In that sense, Montag is a promoter of ignorance and his job is to keep everyone in the dark (i.e. On the same level of ignorance). In this sense there can be no individualism because nobody is being introduced to "obscure" things that others don't have access to. Individuals' knowledge is limited to what they see on television or hear on the radio. Since everyone sees and hears the same things, there is no room for individuality. In Bradbury's world, knowledge is power and it is also what gives someone his or her individuality. Bradbury depicts the media as something that is created in order to cover up the real life experience of individuals and so they are not ever given the opportunity to know the truth about the society that they live in. If they do not know what kind of world they really live in, they how can they make informed decisions or form opinions about their existence? The bottom line is that they can't.

In Utopia, the same thing is happening as in Fahrenheit 451 in that both governments are trying to maintain a collective happiness through means that control individuals in some form. In Utopia, nobody has more than another and nobody has privacy. Individuals are free to have their own thoughts, but they are not allowed to express those thoughts. Thoughts without expression are merely thoughts and they can't do anything to change society and they can't be used as a tool for individualism.