At first this book was very confusing to me. I had a hard time concentrating, so I kept day dreaming and reading the same pages over and over. Thankfully, I finally got used to Thomas More's writing style. It's still hard, but I find that it's easier if I keep summarizing what I've just read every few pages.
One quote of Thomas More really fascinated me:
"If you do not find a remedy to these evils, it is a vain thing to boast of your severity in punishing theft, which though it may have the appearance of justice, yet in itself it is neither just nor convenient. For if you suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners to be corrupted from their infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded from this, but that you first make thieves and then punish them?"
I find it funny that Thomas More was talking about this hundreds of years ago, yet we still have some of the same problems today. One would think that our society would have learned from his writings, and we have to some extent, but we still have some of the same problems. People that are poor and live in bad neighborhoods often have trouble getting good jobs and following their dreams. They aren't given the same chances that middle or high class citizens are given. Many don't have enough money to go to college and receave a decent education, so they're stuck with low paying jobs. This occasionally causes them to steal, rob, be depressed, murder, or commit crimes, just like the thieves in England. But as I think about this book, I realize that it's about a utopia. Having a utopia is probably impossible. What do you think? Do you think there would be any way to have a utopia and be sure that everyone would have the same chances of succeeding?
I think that if the government controlled that, then it would most likely turn into some sort of communist government. If anyone found a way of having a utopia, then parts of it would probably be objected by others.
Thomas More suggests that people convicted of any crime should be put to work for the public, have their ear cropped, and wear a special robe. While this is better than killing them right away, I don't think it's very just to ruin their life if the crime isn't very serious. I think that If they were put to work, their ear shouldn't be cropped. They should be released after a certain amount of time and be given a second chance. If their ear was cropped, then they would never get another chance because they would be looked down upon by everyone else. He would have a hard time getting a job, and his life would be pretty hard.
This topic can be very easily related to our world today. If someone has any sort of criminal record, they will be less likely to get a good job, even if the crime is unimportant. Hardly any employers would want to take the chance.
It seems to me that if one was complaining that their method of punishment was unjust, that they would want to make it just, instead of just changing the type of punishment.
Although the criminals would still be living, I'm sure it would be a very miserable life, and I don't agree that it's just to punish someone severely for a trivial crime. They should have different degrees of punishment.
6 comments:
Excellent thoughts and insights. I agree that the best way to understand More is to summarize what you read as you read it.
Is utopia the same for all? What would your utopia look like? How could the government insure that everyone's needs were satisfied when everyone's quality world is different? Would equality for all be utopia or would it lead some to satisfy their needs at the expense of others?
How do people decide what punishment fits the crime? Is it possible to settle a criminal act without any type of punishment?
Ms L
I agree with your comments about criminals. If we really were a fair and just society we would truly forgive others of their crimes and allow them to get good jobs and go on with their lives. However, that certainly doesn't happen. But then again, the US is certainly NOT Utopia.
Are the 7 caring habits present in Utopia?
~Mrs. C
Farm communes in the 60's were actually a form of utopia. They worked because they were small and everyone voted and participated. As soon as things get huge, someon steps in and tries to run things. Often leading to dictatorships. True communism was never established. How can you get everyone to agree what is good? Small town government is another example of where utopia ideas are used. Everyone votes and agrees on things. Leaders are more of employees of thewhole. I think are government has forgotten the common person and needs to remeber that they really are employees of the whole! On another note, can criminals really be changed? If we believe this, then why are we bulding more and more prisons? What should we be doing instead? MRs. C, what are the caring habits? Mrs. G
To Mrs. G:
The 7 caring habits are:
trusting
respecting
accepting
supporting
encouraging
listening
and
negotiating differences
The 7 deadly habits are:
criticizing
blaming
complaining
nagging
threatening
punishing
and
bribing or rewarding to control
~Mrs. C
I also think that the only way to have a utopia would be getting rid of choice, which means that you'd pretty much be making a dictatorship where one person or a group of people make all of the decisions. By getting rid of choice, basically free will, there would be no disputes, feelings, or anything else of the sort. However, this really wouldn't be a perfect society, especially if it is made up of zombies that don't have the freedom to do anything.
I don't know exactly how well giving criminals a second chance would go over. And, I'm not saying that this is right, but look at the job argument from the employers perspective: who would want an employee that was a former criminal, no matter how small the crime was? I personally can see exactly where they're coming from. I would not want one of my workers jeopardizing my business.
-Garth
To Ms L:
I would make sure that I had lots of nature and sunlight in my utopia. Other than that, I wouldn't really care what it looked like. I think it's more important to make sure that everyone has a fair opportunity to have a life full of happiness and success. But on the other hand, someone else might think that to a have a happy life, their utopia would have to look a certain way.
I think it would be interesting to see if a society could live with no government at all. Then there wouldn't be any limits to pass, or any laws to break. I think everyone has an idea of what's right or wrong, to some extent. I know it would probably be hard to stay being a no government society, because someone would want to be in power, but I think it would be fun to try. I think it would make everyone feel more equal with no leaders. Everyone would still want to compete with each other, and be challenged in life, but they wouldn't commit crimes or do anything drastic, because they would know that no one would ever be able to be a king, president or any major leader.
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