Utopia Project
Jonas’ society is supposed to be an ideal or perfect community. There is no crime, hunger, poverty, suffering, inequality. There have been other examples in history of people trying to create a perfect society.
A number of utopian communities were established in the U.S., such as Shakers in the 18th century or Fruitlands, led by Bronson Alcott in the mid 19th century. There are groups in the United States today that actively seek to maintain an identity outside the mainstream culture: the Amish, the Mennonites, Native American tribes, and the Hasidic Jewish community.
1) Research another community and see how they created an alternative society.
Choose one of these communities and list the principles that guided it, as well as assumptions behind those principles.
What benefits do these groups expect from defining themselves as “other”?
What are the disadvantages?
How does mainstream culture put pressure on such groups?
Why may such a community not last?
2) Create your own utopian society
Include the following elements:
Give your world/ land a name and location
Create a belief or value system that the community must follow
Create a system of punishment and explain how it works
Describe your technology
Write a short comparison of your world to Jonas’ world
Create a Pledge of Allegiance or a National Anthem (optional)
Your project should research the topic using the Internet, books, magazines, newspapers.
All your source material should be included in a BIBLIOGRAPHY at the end of your work. Any quotations should be marked clearly, showing what is in your own words, and what is taken from your sources.
Your work could be related to the story of The Giver, with quotations to show the connection. (extra credit)
Material downloaded from the Internet with no editing will earn a zero.
3) Reflection
At the end of your project write a short conclusion or reflection explaining what you learned from your work, if you think it was helpful, what you would prefer to do differently.
Here are some sample questions:
What is your project about? why did you choose this society to write about?
What kind of task did you have to do? Describe the process.
What did you learned about the topic you researched?
What interests you about the topic?
How interested were you in the topic in the beginning and in the end of your project?
What was the most interesting thing that you learned about your topic?
Name two sources you used. Where did you find your sources?
What new information did you gain from doing the project?
How did you work on the material you found?
What new skills did you learn from doing the project?
What did you enjoy about doing the project?
What did you find difficult about doing the project?
What was the most difficult part of doing this project? How did you overcome it?
What else would you like to know about the topic?
What would you have done differently?
What is your opinion of your project?