Freedom to Chose and Freedom from Choice: Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale”
While on the surface Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale paints the picture of a time and place not far from our own where the utopic ideals of one group of people appear to be a dystopic hell for another, beneath these circumstances it is, among other things, a story about freedom and choice; the freedom [...]
Religious Parallels in Ayn Rand’s “Anthem”
Ayn Rand’s Anthem utilized religious symbolism to emphasize the work’s humanistic message. As in the Bible’s account of creation, man is expelled from paradise for his transgressions and the sin leads to self awareness. In both stories light represents understanding and truth, and the “Word” is a god given to mankind. Rand also makes use [...]
Gender Role Reversal in Gilman’s “Herland” and Oz’s “The Stepford Wives”
The short story Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and the movie The Stepford Wives directed by Frank Oz (from the book by Ira Levin, author of Rosemary’s Baby) utilize gender reversal to explore sex roles in society. Never mind the improbable pretexts of each piece, a race of self-breeding Aryan women and a town full [...]
Literary Contributions of More’s “Utopia”, Bellamy’s “Looking Backward, and Donnelly’s “Caesar’s Column”
As far as literature is concerned, Thomas More’s Utopia, Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward, and Ignatius Donnelly’s Caesar’s Column may not be considered masterpieces by many, but despite their apparent weaknesses each of them has made significant contributions to literature as a whole. While it does not seem to have been the intent, Utopia has been [...]
Suspending Reader Disbelief in “Looking Backward” by Edward Bellamy
In Looking Backward Edward Bellamy utilized a literary convention which helped to suspend the disbelief of his contemporaries, but discredits his ideas with a modern audience. Placing the primary action of the story 113 years into the future allowed his initial audience to consider it, and its philosophies, feasible. But now, 120 years from the [...]
Political and Religious Satire in Thomas More’s “Utopia”
Thomas More produced his fictional Utopia as a satire on his contemporaries’ religious and political thoughts. The positive light given to religious, political and philosophical ideas diametrically opposed to those of the author, the presence of ridiculous wordplay in the names, titles and locations within the piece, and the pseudo Renaissance-humanist air given by setting [...]
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