The grass always seems greener on the other side. Human nature has always been to advance forward and progress. This necessity and desire for circumstances that we perceive as better is engrained in all of us. Stemming from this, we have an outright affinity for believing that our lives would improve if our circumstances would change. If only loveless Julia could have a relationship like Beyoncé & Jay-Z. If only poor Julia could somehow have been born to an exorbitantly wealthy family like Barron. It is easy to observe those around you and contrast the negative aspects of your life with positive ones of theirs. We often ignore, or at least are ignorant of, the drawbacks and negativity that can sprout from the positive aspects of another’s life.
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For this reason, we will now analyze why we come up with these imaginary worlds in the first place. It is said that literary utopias are products of the period in which they were created. Ghassan Hage in his “Dwelling in the Reality of Utopian Thought” writes, “…utopian thought... is still emanating from and speaking to a reality; that utopia, rather than being a space inspired by an idealized past that has disappeared, or a future-oriented imagining of that which has no existence, is metonymic of minor and repressed spaces in which we already dwell in the present” (8). We often even derive the positive aspects of utopias from our own reality. Seeing a loving family and wishing the world to be able to experience such a love is an example. Even seeing the philanthropy of those with more and giving to those with less can translate to the increased abundance of positive behaviors associated with utopias. These creations come from the parts of us that wish we could be good all the time; the part of us that wishes we could always be compassionate, giving, honest, and hard working. They are also a response to the ills and struggles inundating the society during the period. A utopia created by someone raised in Europe during World War II will probably focus on the absence of war, and even may draw ties from the political and ideological war taking place between the United States and the Soviet Union, beginning shortly after
For this reason, we will now analyze why we come up with these imaginary worlds in the first place. It is said that literary utopias are products of the period in which they were created. Ghassan Hage in his “Dwelling in the Reality of Utopian Thought” writes, “…utopian thought... is still emanating from and speaking to a reality; that utopia, rather than being a space inspired by an idealized past that has disappeared, or a future-oriented imagining of that which has no existence, is metonymic of minor and repressed spaces in which we already dwell in the present” (8). We often even derive the positive aspects of utopias from our own reality. Seeing a loving family and wishing the world to be able to experience such a love is an example. Even seeing the philanthropy of those with more and giving to those with less can translate to the increased abundance of positive behaviors associated with utopias. These creations come from the parts of us that wish we could be good all the time; the part of us that wishes we could always be compassionate, giving, honest, and hard working. They are also a response to the ills and struggles inundating the society during the period. A utopia created by someone raised in Europe during World War II will probably focus on the absence of war, and even may draw ties from the political and ideological war taking place between the United States and the Soviet Union, beginning shortly after