Thomas More wrote Utopia through the storytelling of
Raphael, a traveler that had been to Utopia and was sharing its culture and
civilization to Thomas and his one friend. He starts by describing the work
conditions in Utopia. Farming is the basic job, with everyone being trained as
a farmer. People can then choose another vocation if they desire. Men and women
are given equal job opportunities and education. Utopian society is
patriarchal, with households living in the same home, with the patriarch
leading them. There is a population limit for each city. There is no money or
private property. The last major aspect of Utopia described by Raphael is its
religious freedom. Everyone in Utopia believes in God in some fashion, but there
are numerous different religions.
Utopia is presented in
vivid detail; so much that it has an almost realistic feel to it. It is clear
that More is critiquing the failures of society while showing his view of what
society should be. Not only are the ideologies of English society critiqued,
but even the economy of Utopia is different than England’s at the time. More’s
main criticism is of the wastefulness and the inefficiency of England. The free
time of Utopians is spent learning or being entertained rather than the
wasteful amusement found in taverns and brothels in England.
Don Quixote was Miguel de Cervantes way of telling his elaborate
stories and making them have meaning. Don Quixote starts as a poor farmer who
is obsessed with reading ancient tales of chivalry and heroics. He decides to
go on his own great adventure and finds Sancho who becomes his squire. He goes
on several adventures, one of which is described in the book. In the distance,
he sees monsters with large arms waving around and charges at them. He finds
out the hard way that they were not monsters, but windmills. He eventually is
encountered by one of his friends that disguises himself as the Knight of the
White Moon. He defeats Don Quixote and tells him to return home because Don
Quixote had been a joke as a knight. He realizes the errors of his ways and
repents right before he dies.
Don Quixote learned
too late the meaning of life. It is not epic pursuits or quests, but finding
true purpose in life, which is found in God. He spent all his life trying to
imitate the knights that he had read about and be just as great and chivalrous
as they were. The final act of his life, his death, shows his turning from his
vain pursuits to the meaningful pursuits of being a Christian. He realizes that
mankind cannot survive alone, but must rely on God.
More’s evaluation of
society is very similar in layout to Plato’s Republic and Aristotle’s view of
society seen in Ethics and Politics. The ideas of communalism and even of
having servants/slaves to do menial work is almost exactly like the Spartan
view expressed by Herodotus. The main goal in all the views and ideas of
society is the greatest, most efficient way to produce goods and to avoid
corruption. More describes Utopia as having no “ways of disgusting idleness”,
the same idleness that is condemned by Benedict as evil. The wrongful pursuits
of worldly pleasures lead to immorality, which is why in Utopia there are no
taverns or brothels. The same evils of the world that Paul urges us to avoid
are recognized by More as being evil. The worldly pursuits of Don Quixote
ultimately prove to be his downfall, and he realizes too late the vanity of the
pursuits of the world. Cervantes says that “nothing human is eternal, but every
earthly thing, especially mankind, is always decaying.” These two protagonists,
Don Quixote and Raphael, reflect the theology of their writers, and of Solomon,
that “everything is vanity” unless it has a foundation in Christ. Don Quixote
fully understood the vanity of the world and of its pleasures. Raphael
understood it also, except in the case of religion. Beliefs should not be kept
to oneself. We are not called to be secluded from the world, but to be its salt
and light. The effects of salt on fresh meat are not soothing, but are
ultimately beneficial for it. It is the same with light that darkness is pierced
by light. After being in the dark for a long time, being exposed to bright
light is extremely painful. Therefore, it is clearly our mandate to go into the
world and preach the gospel, knowing the ramifications that it will have. Raphael
was right in pointing out that religion is no cause for war and death, but it
should be at the heart of life, and therefore be shared to everyone. There is a
good example of how we should live as Christians from Lord of the Rings. Galadriel
gives Frodo the light of Earendil, which is to be a light “when all other
lights go out.” Christ gives us his eternal light of truth to use in a world
where all other lights have gone out.
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