Examples Of Isolation In Utopias: Is Ignorance Bliss?

Isolation in Utopias: Is Ignorance Bliss?

The idea of utopia has existed since as early as 380 BC, with Plato’s “Republic”. Utopias are imaginings of a perfect society free from war, poverty, and discrimination. Most famous literary utopias are set in a place of isolation in order to escape an imperfect world with hardships and inequality. The citizens of the utopia must maintain a certain mindset of superiority and selfishness to convince themselves that they are worthy of the beauty and fairness of the utopia while others are not. However, many of these utopias do not explore the internal closed-mindedness that is brewed in isolation and how this may impact the tranquility of the utopia. Furthermore, these utopias also ignore the innate human need for change. Instead, they project the idea that their citizens are content with their constant surroundings and way of life in isolation. Most literary utopian societies require a certain level of isolation to exist; however, the ignorance mindset that isolation creates is also the ruination of these communities

Many literary utopias display a false reality where citizens are content with their constant surroundings and way of life in isolation. Toni Morrison’s “Paradise” refutes this trope. The town of Ruby proves that rejecting the human need for change allows closed-mindedness and self-absorption to grow. Due to their pride and emphasis on history, the leaders of Ruby are unable to think toward their future anymore. They are constantly living in their past and justify this with their warped perception of their religion. Furthermore the ignorance that is enclosed in Ruby creates tension and discrimination inside their “utopia”. In the end, the leaders of Ruby were the source of their own undoing, becoming everything that they thought they were protecting their citizens