Utopia Analysis

Though the three works each contribute different points or opinions, “Mapping Arcadia,” by Denis Cosgrove, “America as Landscape,” by Denis Cosgrove, and “Utopia,” by Thomas More all exemplify the idea of a world or utopia outside the reality world or time they are discussing within their writings. Through contrast and comparison, the three works and the concept of a utopia can further be explained.

Thomas More’s utopia, a fantasy island placed in the New World, was an alternate world crisply structured to ensure happiness and equality. More enforced ideas in his world such as citizens not owning private property, eating meals in large, community-oriented dining halls, and only taking supplies when needed. More observed and criticized the policies of his European homestead which allowed him to be able to visualize and mold his own policies for his utopian world. I believe that More placed his utopian world in the New World because like many other Europeans looking at the New World, it became a symbol of hope and dreams. Throughout history, it has been recorded that Europeans leave their continent in order to start new lives in the New World and later, these escapades develop the colonies that shape the United States today. Europeans liked the idea of a new, mostly uncolonized land where they could break away from European policy and create their own within their own settlements. Thomas More did not seem to be an exception. In his work, he openly criticizes European ideas and dreams of a new life through this utopia in the New World. Because he sees the New World in the same fresh start, new opportunity light as other Europeans, he decided to place his utopia in that period of time.

In “Mapping Arcadia,” Denis Cosgrove discusses the concept of Arcadia, a nonexistent location that takes the form of the utopian dream of a landscape for people to reflect on throughout history. Like More’s dream, Arcadia is a utopia as well but takes on a different form than More’s. More’s utopia is planned out geographically and every single policy and structure is developed. Arcadia is not an actual location and takes on a much different structure. It really has not structure. It is a beautiful concept for individuals to reflect or dream upon. Though both ideas represent a utopia, Cosgrove and More take on a different approach to the utopias they are reflecting on. Cosgrove discusses the idea of mapping not always being geographical and instead, the possibility for it to be creative and imaginative. Of course, More had to be creative in order to create his own alternate world, but he did not leave any room for his world to be creative. He instead used the assumed definition of mapping to create the physical appearance and every policy of his world. Jacopo Sannazaro wrote a poem, Arcadia, in the 1480s full of beautiful adjectives and descriptions of the dreamy landscape San Cipriano. The descriptive adjectives and appreciation of a certain landscape in the poem truly show how Arcadia should be used: as an item of the beauty and possibility of all landscapes. More just doesn’t seem to see or express this concept of natural beauty when shaping his perfect, uniform world. His beauty may be uniformity and policies he supports.

Denis Cosgrove takes a different approach in his work, “America as Landscape.” In this writing, he reflects upon the time of the New World and the preoccupation with the attempt to achieve the supposed Golden Age myth. One can relate the Golden Age to More’s utopia more than Arcadia due to the doctrine of structure being further enforced. Cosgrove begins his article discussing the difference between Europeans who travel to the New World. He differentiated two types clearly: those who travel to the New World and begin working on the ground and civilization immediately and those who explore the New World and map out ideas and dreams about the new lands. Those who explored and mapped appeared to create more structure and spur more ideas than those who focused on first gaining something. Thomas More seems to be like one of those individuals who explored and mapped. I feel like this time that he would have explored or mapped can be compared to his observations of European policies and the ideas that were hurting Europe as a whole. These observations led to his ability to dream about and map out a new utopian world. Cosgrove also reflects upon the idea of the myth of the Golden Age. More appears to be creating his own Golden Age for the flaws he found in Europe. Both his world and the Golden Age world value sharing everything and the doctrine of equality in general. They don’t value gold as anything other than something the community can share to receive something needed from other countries or to bribe them. However, I feel that there is still a major difference between the Golden Age and More’s utopia. When a Golden Age is occurring, it doesn’t seem so planned out. It just appears to be a time of happiness, prosperity, and even a sense of naiveness to the idea of it occurring. More’s world doesn’t seem to posses this quality of happiness and lack of planning. More’s world appears to be an emotionless world where individuals are just coexisting. The world is planned out and More knows and plans exactly when it would happen. The Golden Age seems to be much more of a free concept. For example, European leaders earned to achieve a Golden Age like the Native Americans who happily shared belongings and lived around mounds of gold to which they saw no value. Though More tried, a planned Golden Age seems like it would be difficult to achieve superficially.

Cosgrove and More both explain different ways the world has been viewed over time and the ways that people have tried to achieve these dreams. Though the ideas are similar, the world will always be viewed differently by every individual. Would a utopia even be possible with so many conflicting views?

 

 

Sources Cited

Denis Cosgrove. “America as Landscape.” Social Formation and Symbolic Landscape. Ch. 6. p. 161_168. n.d. University of Wisconsin Press. January 14, 2014. https://carmen.osu.edu/d2l/le/content/11278283/viewContent/6378804/View


Denis Cosgrove. “Mapping Arcadia.” Geography and Vision: Seeing, Imagining, and Representing the World. Ch. 4. p 68_84. 2008. I.B. Taurus. Accessed January 14, 2014. https://carmen.osu.edu/d2l/le/content/11278283/viewContent/6407342/View


Thomas More. “Utopia.” 2005. Accessed January 14, 2014. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2130?msg=welcome_stranger

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