Biblical Interpretation. 2015, Vol. 23 Issue 2, p191-206. 16p.
This source claims that in the past utopian societies existed- utopian as a flexible ideal type, rather than a strict definition. It suggest that reading the Hebrew Bible as a utopia reconstructs its historical realities. The author concedes the argument that each reconstruction of reality is only one possible interpretation offered by a member of a non-intended audience and it doesn’t confirm the existence of a utopian society but he strongly grasps to the fact that if the different reconstructions are put together the truth is more likely to be revealed. This source is helpful for our research because it holds a different viewpoint on utopias that the one …show more content…
and Gandy, S. (2014) Dreaming of a Better Life: Utopia as a Focus for Thematic, Interdisciplinary Instruction. Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. Resor and Gandy use Pictures, songs, poems and rhymes to show how different centuries had different ideas of Utopias. In one example Resor and Gandy use an oil painting by Pieter Bruegel, The Land of Cockaigne that was also made into a poem but it explains that in old medieval times the peasants or servers of people higher than them would dream of a society with food that is already ready everywhere, “The Fences are of Sausages. The windows and doors though this seems odd, are made of salmon, sturgeon and cod (The Land of Cockaigne; Pleij, H.) Resor and Gandy use another picture called Our Barn Is Full which is a tall-tale postcard (Alfred Stanley Johnson Jr.). This post-card is telling a tall-tale of all the immigrants moving to America, the immigrants are thinking this is the Utopia they have been dreaming of. Resor and Gandy use many other examples, but all of them have something in common and that is even in different countries, society’s, books utopias are explained and shown in so many different and sometimes disturbing ways. Yet all of these different examples have one thing in common and that is they are most likely impossible to be a …show more content…
Papantonakis says that most all of these books are disguised as Utopias when they are just really dystopias. Papantonakis argues that More’s book “Utopia” wasn’t the exact first book or text that had defined Utopia but it was in fact Plato. Papantonakis also says that mostly all of the old Greek writings had described dystopias and Utopia’s before any of these young adult fiction books did. Throughout her essay she describes why these famous Greek books that don’t get enough recognition are Dystopia to Utopias. Papantonakis does compare and contrast these Greek books to some of the western children’s literature like who could forget The Giver by Lowry. Papantonakis argues that there is no such thing as leaving a dystopia, only to go to a utopia that is hopeful without it also being a