Utopia?`

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Utopia: remote cabin on the beach, the kingship of a vast empire,
Nirvana; Heaven, the Happy Hunting Grounds, paradise, perfection. What
exactly is Utopia? According to Webster it is “1, an imaginary and indefinitely
remote place” or “ 2, often capitalized : a place of ideal perfection esp. in laws,
government, and social conditions”. Where is this perfect place? Will my dog
live forever there? Will I never grow old? If I never grow old there does that
mean I never mature? What if my idea of perfection differs from my neighbor
there, will it still be perfect for both of us? Utopia is a nonexistent, but
absolutely perfect place, as we can see from the beginning of the word in 1516
by Sir Thomas More. More was one of Henry VIII's main councilors. He fell
out of favor with the king when he did not sign a letter urging the pope to
divorce Henry and Catherine. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London
because his going against the king was treason; he was beheaded. It is strange
that a man with such a life, and such an end, was the creator of the perfect
world as well as a commonly used word in our language. In his writings Utopia
was a place of absolute perfection. He described a poor king who cared more
about the riches of his people than his own welfare, much different than the
dystopia that he lived his life in. This Utopia of More sounds very similar to that
that Gonzalo speaks of in Shakespeare’s Tempest “All things in common nature
should produce without sweat or endeavor. Treason, felony, Sword, pike,
knife, gun, or need for any engine Would I not have; but nature should bring
forth of it own kind, all foison, all abundance, to feed my innocent people”
(Shakespeare 334) There have been many attempted Utopias. One of these
can be seen in the book Brave New World. This book takes place on earth in
the future. In this future everything is dominated by science and technology.
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