Edward Bellamy described his imaginations of America, creating an Utopian society to let reader compare and contrast the similarities and differences between two different social systems. In the book, Bellamy discussed the drawbacks of America’s high concentration Capitalism, which 10% of the wealthy people controlling the majority of social resources, and also raised his opinions on how to improve the economic/political system of the U.S.
With the development of productivity and a high concentration of wealth, the negative effects began to grow. Thanks to the economic crisis in 1873 and 1883, America was experiencing a recession, in which factories were shut down, and thousands of workers lost their jobs. The rich class, however, did not suffer as much as the workers did, and they created a bigger gap between the rich and the poor. Wages were cut, working hours were increased. Working class people suffered during the age with limited income and obsessive amount of work. Bellamy started with revealing the cruel reality, and criticized the inferiority of the rich class, as well as the huge inequality within the society. Bellamy wanted to create an Utopian society where everyone would live equally; people with various occupations get paid the same amount, they hold equal social status and so on. He was influenced by the ideal of socialism, so he the protagonist sleep for 100 years to introduce this new system to the readers.
Bellamy imagined：“The country would take over the job, and there would not be shops, banks or currency.” Instead, it was a system that the country would allocate the resources equally. I think this is a really unrealistic idea, and it stops people from working hard or pursuing their goals. When China was established, it was claimed as socialism country as well. Right now, China is turning into Capitalism, simply because the idea of letting everyone share equal amount of wealth did not work. The Utopian society that Bellamy imagined is not the correct direction for future development.
I agree that Edward Bellamy created this utopian America in order to let his audience compare it with the economic and social turmoil that they were experiencing in the late 19th century. He wanted to give people a hopeful view of the future and to inspire people to open their minds to political and economic change in America.
Although the society Bellamy lays out doesn’t seem possible its values and the way in which it works would have been appealing to the people living in the late nineteenth century. With job and financial security, the people Julian West meets in 2000 seem happy and don’t have to worry about the problems experienced in the 1880s.
I agree that such society appeal people in the 19th century. I think it is the inequality and poverty that drive people to change the society. The one Bellamy imagined is an ideal one, and people do not think about drawbacks when they are imaging good things.
What’s important to keep in mind is that the book was written in an era of utopian dreaming. During this period utopian ideologies like socialism and anarchism were popular and a number of utopian communes were attempted. it was only after the world wars and the destruction and social upheaval they caused that utopianism fully fell out of favor.