Sunday, January 5, 2020

Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy Essay - 696 Words

Looking Backward The book Looking Backward was written by Edward Bellamy and published in the year 1888. Bellamy started off his career as a journalist but then married and decided to devote his efforts to writing fiction novels. Looking Backward was published and Bellamy was famous. The book stirred around the country and had people imagining a world like the one Bellamy created in his book. The idea of a utopia as the one he describes is unbelievable. His book is what people, of even now in the twenty first century, wish the world could possible be like. However, Bellamys world of reasoning and judging of people based on the inner beliefs was not what people of then or now do. Bellamys book showed a world of rationality being†¦show more content†¦Mr. West is surprised by how the society has turned out and the kindness he received from a complete stranger. This stranger and doctor is the other main character Dr. Leete. Julian begins to discuss the vast improvements among the half a century he has been asleep. Here Bellamy begins to describe the utopia world that he has created. Julian is amazed to hear how the society is equally prosperous and is worried and the society values common good among the society than who has the most power. Within the next few chapters Dr. Leete and Julian stay up to talk and answer questions that he may have. In these chapters Bellamy is using a comparison of the Julians old world to the utopia that he has just entered and what Bellamy is creating as readers continue with the story. Bellamy continues to explain further details of this utopia. For one Bellamy explains how each makes the money equally within the state and than how the money is given to the state to be equally distributed. Continuing on Bellamy describes a little how the society and state was run back in the ninetieth century. He talks about mans place in the work field and all the other responsibility that they carry out. Bellamy writes about each world a little at a time i n order for the reader to distinguish the differences of the ninetieth century and the twentieth century. As the chapters progress and the story of the unimaginable world continuesShow MoreRelatedLooking Backward By Edward Bellamy, And Fahrenheit 451931 Words   |  4 PagesTo you it could mean no more war, no more poverty, every person of every race and gender being treated exactly the same. However, to someone else their idea of a perfect world could be the complete opposite of what you would want. In Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy, and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury the idea of a perfect world is not just an idea anymore, it becomes reality. Nevertheless, both books â€Å"perfect world† are completely different from one another. The theme of both books is to try andRead MoreFuture Visions of America in Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy507 Words   |  2 PagesPublished in 1888 Looking Backward depicts a future vision of America. Utopian Boston of the year 2000 is de signed in a constructive method that excludes capitalism. Through the medium of romantic novel, Bellamy seeks to impose the idea of socialism into the nineteenth-century American society. Written at a period when economic growth went off the rails triggering the rise in unequal distribution of wealth, Looking Backward attempts to propose a reform in social and economic systems. From the eyesRead MoreTo Succeed One Must First Dream in Looking Backwards by Edward Bellamy1163 Words   |  5 PagesSet in the late 19th and early 21th century, Looking Backwards is a utopian novel discussing the advantages of socialism, a political philosophy that many disenchanted intellectuals of the 19th century believed in. Edward Bellamy, the author, is included in that class of intellectuals. By being transported to the modern day, Julian West, the protagonist, is able to contrast the two societies he has lived in: the capitalistic 19th century and the utopian, socialist 20th century. Julian West,Read MoreA Thin Layer Of Fiction Are Looking Backward By Edward Bellamy And Herland By Charlotte Perkins Gilman1613 Words   |  7 Pagesbehind a thin layer of fiction are Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy and Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Both of these novels offer a critique to certain aspects of American society during the time period, and do so in very similar ways. Each of these novels, Looking Backward and Herland, depict utopian societies in order to fully illustrate the issues that the authors see in their current society. Although the issues being addressed may be different, the way Bellamy and Gilman discuss them containRead MoreA Window into Thinking During The Gilded Age in the Book Looking Backwards by Edward Bellamy1218 Words   |  5 Pageswho funded them, so people would be afraid of reform. However, this was not enough because social change was not instigated by labor or political parties but by the vow by mankind to persevere and conquer the old order and usher in the new. Mr. Bellamy contrasts the anarchist and socialist movements in order posit the latter in a more favorable light. An important issue resolved the nationalist movement is gender relations. Women have been elevated from domestic labor to equals of men. TheyRead MoreEssay on Bellamys Looking Backward: Utopia or Fantasy?1610 Words   |  7 PagesBellamys Looking Backward: Utopia or Fantasy?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚        Ã‚   Although Edward Bellamys twentieth century society in Looking Backward appears to be the perfect utopia, it could never exist. The very factors that Bellamy claimed contributed to the societys establishment and success are, in reality, what would lead to its failure. The twentieth century society lacked the possibility for advancements in technology while at the same time lacking competition and appropriate incentives. Even ifRead MoreEssay on Visions of Utopia in Bellamys Looking Backward749 Words   |  3 PagesVisions of Utopia in Looking Backward  Ã‚   Edward Bellamy addressed many of the topics crucial to the development of a civilization in his book, Looking Backward. In the story he addresses several different features of years past utopias. Some being universal harmony, distribution of occupation according to individual aptitudes, equality of reward, universal ease and comfort, reduction of hours of labor, suppression of idleness, of competition, of the struggle for life, and also for money (DeRead MoreLooking Backwards And Fahrenheit 4511221 Words   |  5 PagesEdward Bellamy and Ray Bradbury both expressed their concerns that they had during their two different time periods. Their pieces of literature both reflected on a what-if society based on the current living conditions. Each of the main characters were both guided by people and amazed at what they could find if they broke their norm and put their heads in the mindset of creating or living in a better society. In each of the novels Looking Backwards and Fahrenheit 451, the authors clearly oppose whatRead MoreEssay on Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward806 Words   |  4 PagesEdward Bellamy’s Looking Backward    People have always wondered what the future will be like. Certainly Edward Bellamy did when he wrote the novel, Looking Backward (1888). Bellamy uses a man named Mr. West as the main character in this novel. He opens by telling who he is and what his social standing is. West is a young man, around the age of 30, and is fairly wealthy. At the beginning, he tells us about his fiancà ©, Edith, and the house he is having trouble building for her. The trouble comesRead MoreGender Roles in Utopian Societies Essay1310 Words   |  6 Pagesis the more fragile character in the background. We wonder if the roles could reverse or how can these roles differ in certain societies. In Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, males play the dominant role when it comes to society, whereas in Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy focuses on female-dominated aspects of society. Utopia by Sir Thomas More depicts men to be the deciders when it comes to creating a family of their own. In the section Of Their Slaves and Of Their Marriages, More begins the idea of

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.