| A. How is your Utopia a reaction to the utopia that you read about in your independent novel?
I read the book The Giver. It was an amazing book, and the Utopia seemed like it would work well. I used a few ideas from this book in my own Utopia. For example:
- In The Giver, the Elders in the society are respected. In my society, the Elders are respected as well, because they have lived the longest and are therefore believed to have the most knowledge.
- In The Giver, their system of government is basically a committee that makes all decisions for the society. My government is similar to this. In my society, the government is a committee that makes decisions, but then presents them to the people for vote, but not everything is up to the Committee.
- In the Giver, the Committee choose jobs for the people based on their childhood and what strengths and likes they had. My society is similar to that. People in the society meet with the Committee and based on the persons likes, strengths, and private studies, the Committee and the person decide on the job together.
There were also some ideas in The Giver that I didn't like, and used ideas that were different than those The Giver:
- In the Giver, jobs were assigned to people at age 12. There were a few things about this arrangement that I didn't like. First, I think that people should have some control over what job they have, and what they spend the rest of their lives doing. Second, I think that age 12 is just a bit young to begin a job. In my society, people meet with the Committee and decide on a job TOGETHER. People begin their job between the ages of 22 and 24, which I think is a more realistic age than 12. However, students begin investigating a job of their choice at age 15, and may shadow a person with this job for at least one year, but they are not required to keep this job.
- I think that it is very silly for people to be assigned a wife and children, like they do in The Giver. People are given the freedom to choose who they marry, and have their own children.
- In The Giver, families were only allowed to have two children, no more, no less. In my society, families may have no children (although they are encouraged to have at least one child), one child (although they are strongly encouraged to have at least two children to prevent a child from feeling lonely), two children, three children, or four children, but no more than that UNLESS they have permission from the Committee.
B. What historical precedents (or from other works of fiction) have influenced your Utopian ideas?
I used other ideas from other Utopias, such as the ones last year, to help me with my ideas. For example, one I got the idea to have a Committee from a Utopia last year (I can't remember which one). I actually used a few ideas from Allie's Utopia, such as having the Observations Committee like the Watchful Eye.
C. How is your Utopia a reaction to the society that you are living in?
My society is similar to the society I am currently living in in a few ways:
- Many holidays in my society are similar to those celebrated here. Pascopolis Day is very similar to Independence Day in the United States. Other holidays, such as Christmas and Easter are still observed.
- The government is similar to that in the United States. Check out the government section for more information.
It is also different in many ways:
- People in my society do not have as much religious freedom as we have here. People can still practice whatever religion they choose, but they are not permitted to talk about or practice religion in a public place.
- Though my society has a military, it is not as large as the United States. They feel that it is not necessary and there are other ways to settle disagreements both inside and outside their society.
- Instead of having a president like the United States has, my society has multiple leaders with the same authority, known as the Committee. Early leaders decided on this so that if one member of the Committee becomes corrupt, the whole government does not fall apart. The member of the committee is removed, and everything goes back to normal.
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