Thomas More’s Utopia is one of the defining works of the Renaissance period.
During this era, there was rampant change all over Eastern Europe. The failing
governments were being revamped into more democratic organizations and focus was
placed on the community as opposed to the dictator or monarch. Thus, the concept
of an ideal society in which citizens governed themselves and strove for the
good of the community, such as that in Utopia, seemed revolutionary. His book
gained widespread notoriety among the humanists of the Renaissance and to this
day it continues to serve as a model of a perfect society. In my opinion,
however, it serves as only that…a model of a perfect society. Utopia is simply
a standard by which to compare all other societies by. I would venture to say
that More created it as an unrealistic ideal and not an actual goal to be
attained. Based on More’s description of Utopia, I feel that a Utopian
community is not possible. The concept of a Utopia is simply not possible for a
wealth of reasons, one of which is the fact that humans are greedy. Not all
people are greedy, but, as a whole, human beings are greedy, that is, they
always want more. Very rarely will there be a person that is truly satisfied
with the condition of his/her life. In More’s Utopia, everyone is equal; all
people have the same amount of everything. Supposedly, this would prevent people
from wanting more. When everyone has the same amount everyone is satisfied,
right? Wrong, there is nothing to prevent people from wanting more than their
ration of food, firewood, or other resources. In a situation such as a drought
where there is only a small amount of a resource and a small ration is given to
everyone, people will be that much more likely to want more than their share. If
all I’m getting for dinner is a slice of bread I will want more regardless of
the fact that everyone else is getting the same amount. This might lead to me
stealing someone else’s ration, thus throwing off the delicate balance of a
perfect society. Furthermore, the desire for more is not limited to material
things, such as food and other resources but also entails the desire for more
wealth, power, or higher social standing. In a society with no class division
and no wealth such as Utopia, therefore there is nothing to strive for. When
there are no goals, people will not work. Sadly, there is no incentive for
people to labor for the community when there is no prospect of gaining anything
for themselves. This will produce a community of apathetic, unmotivated workers,
which will eventually lead to the downfall of the Utopian society. Another issue
that makes Utopia an unrealistic goal is the fact that in a perfect society
everyone would be equal. The concept of equality is incredibly idealistic and
simply not possible amongst a large group of people. By adding slaves to the
model society, it is obvious even More could not avoid class divisions. It is
also human nature to put people into groups, whether it is based on skin color,
creed, status or education. Certain groups would be admired, and conversely
certain groups would be looked down upon. This will create hostility and unrest
amongst the citizens and will ultimately destroy the model society. It was naïve
of Thomas More to think that humans could exist in a society without ever
creating social divisions. More would probably argue that without material
possessions and social division people would not make distinctions between each
other. However, I feel that people will create divisions among themselves, even
if it must be based on the most trivial of differences. A Utopian society
certainly sounds like a wonderful place, but is it a realistic place? Most
people would say no, including myself. Sadly, not too many people have enough
faith in human kind to ever see a community such as this one flourish. Several
years ago, an experiment in communal living was done on what is known as Brook
Farm. This was supposed to be a modern day Utopia however it failed miserably
due to unrest among the people living in the community. This proves that an
ideal society can never exist, not because people are greedy or need to make
class distinctions but because people would be unhappy in More’s Utopia due to
the lack of growth and progress both in society and individually, thus making it
an imperfect society.