Utopia Book 2

Finishing up Utopia...

Personally, I enjoyed book 2 better than book 1 because it didn't tell stupid stories, but rather it talked about the geography and society of Utopia. Look at the picture I found of Utopia. Who wouldn't want to live here?? It is a secluded island that is in a perfect spot that allows you to be able to send out ships to travel, but where intruders can't get in therefore protecting you from attack. It has a large bay that protects it from the ocean and wind and it is beautiful. It is basically paradise. Or is it?? At first glance, yes it is, but as you continue reading Book 2 you soon realize that maybe it isn't all it is cracked up to be.

Reasons why I would want to live in utopia:

• You are supplied with food for free
• There is no money
• You only work 6 hour days
• You can pick what you want to do for a living(To a certain extent)
• You can learn more than one trade
• You get a lunch break everyday
• They sleep for 8 hours a day (which I know we can, but often times we don't because we are so busy. There they don't have to worry about being so busy therefore they can get plenty of sleep)
• They have plenty of free time
• They are all involved in physical activity and creative things (music, gardening, competitions, etc.)
• You are exempt from physical labor if you are talented at things that require creativity (However I would not be a part of this category so it doesn't really matter)
• If you are extremely good at your job, you are exempt from work
• Everybody has to work (I hate how we (21st century people) pay all these taxes for people who are to lazy to work, where as in Utopia everybody has to work unless you are exempt due to the things previously mentioned)
• Mantain things that they worked so hard to build
• Everybody is educated
• Slaves are not bought (even though I don't think slaves should be arround at all, I would rather them be around and treated the way that the Utopians treat them (with some kind of respect) rather than how Europeans treated them)
• Children of slaves are not born into slavery
• Women and men have age restrictions on when they can get married (women 18,men 22). I think that this is appropriate because I think now a days so many young people are getting married and then end up getting divorced because they realized that they were too young to be making such a significant decision
• No premarital sex is allowed. I agree with this however I do not think that the consequence should be to not be able to marry for life. That is a pretty harsh punishment. However that probably would keep peope from doing it. If we had that rule now a days maybe we wouldn't have so many kids having kids.
• You are required to see your spouse naked before you marry them. I do think that it is kind of weird, but it kind of makes sense. If you can't have sex with them before you get married to them, wouldn't you at least want to see what they look like naked? This one is kind of a toss up for me because part me thinks that it is perfectly logical because I mean what if you HATE the way that they look and then you are stuck with them for eternity, but on the other hand why should it matter how the person looks? If you love them, you should love them for their personality not for how their body looks. But, you do want to be attracted to your significant other, not repulsed by them. I don't know...I am torn on this one.
• Divorce is only allowed if it is an extremely abusive relationship or adultery occurs
• Adulterers become slaves (Though I don't agree with the idea of slaves, I do think that people who commit adultery should be severly punished, and in this case I do agree with slaves)
• They don't think you should enhance yourself cosmetically, but you can make the most of your physical attributes.
• There aren't very many laws
• They hate war
• They are extremely loyal people and would protect their friends at all costs
• They are intelligent

Reasons why I wouldn't want to live in Utopia:

• You have to do agriculture work
• You have to work every day
• All the cities are basically the same
• All the people are basically the same
• You can't lounge around while you are working
• You have limited things that you can do in your free time (You are not allowed to spend it doing things that are a waste of time)
• They beleive in an afterlife and the things that you did wrong in your life you will be punished for in your afterlife
• There are slaves, and they are constantly chained
• If you get caught having premarital sex, you are forbidden to marry for the rest of your life
• You are required to see your spouse naked before you marry them (This is on both lists, but read the "Reasons why I would want to live in Utopia" list for description of how I feel about this topic)
• They never sign treaties with other countries, they just make verbal promises. This is stupid. How naive can you be. I think you should always have a written contract!

There is my lists of pros and cons of Utopia!