Discussion prompt by Gregory Thornquest

Ever since Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden mankind has deeply longed to be in its presence again. We long to freely walk without sinful desire, so much so we would even use what we hate most to try and achieve a life void of it. This inner compulsion led ancient Babylonians to build for themselves ziggurats, towers, and gardens, Roman emperors to construct lavish palaces and hegemonize the Mediterranean, and a Supreme Head of the Church and Clergy of England to write “a really splendid little book”. In Thomas More’s novel Utopia the reader travels down the rabbit hole and finds themselves thrust into a Plato like Republic conversation about an imaginary society of perfection. 

As we ask ourselves why do we read, we usually answer: for entertainment, because we have to in order to achieve a specific goal, or we read with the purpose of self betterment and therefore the betterment of the world around us. Although some, I’m sure, are able to say reading Utopia satisfies all three of these reasons, I would say it personally fulfills the latter of intellectual and self development. This novel encourages me to ask important questions like: “How do I know what I know?”, “Where is my moral compass pointing?”, and “Do philosophies have consequences?” For Thomas More, asking questions like these in the presence of King Henry VIII cost him not only his vocation but literally his head. 

In this novel, published in England in 1516, the reader is enlightened, pun intended, through the conversation of two characters, first about the country of Happiland, and then in more specific detail about the island society of Utopia. In this satire, some things are true while others are not what they appear. For instance, Utopia translates to “not place” and Raphael’s last name is Nonsenso, so Raphael Nonsenso translates to “God has healed the dispenser of nonsense”. This is all very interesting when we realize that Thomas More, who is a character in the novel, is actually not himself but Raphael instead. The author is trying to introduce reasonable thought and flush out the social evils of the time, hence bringing light to the dark. Some of the groundbreaking questions socratically birthed in this novel that later went on to inspire the Age of Enlightenment are: 

• Is human life more valuable than property?
• Where does your definition of justice come from?
• Does the punishment fit the crime?
• Does hard work provide value and self-worth?
• Should those that work hard be able to raise social classes?
• Do we value all human life?
• Should all children be educated?
• Do criminals have rights?
• Would societies be healthier with an equal distribution of goods?
• If love of money is the root of all evil then why have it?
• Should a monarch care more about their country’s welfare than their own?   

These questions which he asked over 500 years ago are still being asked today. Thomas More takes an enormous risk by bringing up the wrongs of monarchies without calling out any specifically. While he is placed under and bears witness to many rulers striving to create their own perfect world he satirically lets the noble class know “what you can’t put right you must try to make as little wrong as possible. For things will never be perfect, until human beings are perfect – which I don’t expect them to be for quite a number of years!” May we be inspired by Thomas More today and bold enough to ask the same hard questions he did in his time of our own current leaders and society.