Utopia

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Build-a-Utopia Workshop”

In this activity, students will use creative and critical thinking skills to describe their own ideal community or utopia.

Thomas More’s Utopia imagines an idealized community with some compelling qualities but others that strike many readers as problematic or even totalitarian. In this activity, each student will design their own ideal community or utopia, making sure to include descriptions of the following:

• The government and basic political structure
• The basic principles of the legal system
• Cultural aspects of the community (literature, visual arts, music)
• Ideological aspects of the community (religion, philosophy)
• References to the geography and/or natural resources of the community

Present the finished “utopia” to the class, then discuss the nature and feasibility of the concept of a utopia. Do the finished versions of student utopias contain similar strengths, patterns, or problems when compared to More’s ideal community?

Teaching Suggestion: You might encourage students to have fun with this activity by allowing them to approach this project either seriously or satirically in an approved medium of their choosing, such as a poster, slideshow, or video.

Differentiation Suggestion: To encourage student agency and creativity, consider allowing students to create a visual representation of their utopia; these students may provide their descriptions aloud when they present their artwork to the class.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Raphael Nonsenso often uses the language of sickness, health, and medicine to characterize social, political, and economic life of Utopia and other societies.

• How does Raphael use concepts of sickness, health, and medicine as metaphors to characterize Utopia? (topic sentence)
• Identify and discuss three examples of these metaphors, explaining them within their specific and broader context.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, evaluate the function of Raphael’s health metaphors within the broader work.

2. Utopia explores The Relationship Between Individual Freedoms and the Common Good. However, while individual liberties of the Utopians are limited, they are not completely eliminated.

• How do the people of Utopia find a balance between individual liberty and the collective good? (topic sentence)
• Discuss three examples of how Utopia views the relationship between individual liberty and the common good.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, analyze the Utopian approach to individual liberties and consider how a community would change if it adopted this approach.

3. Raphael Nonsenso views all government systems (except Utopia’s) as pretenses for the rich and powerful to exploit the poor.

Why does Raphael believe that the rich and powerful in most countries are corrupt? (topic sentence)

Discuss three passages in which Raphael supports his view that the rich and powerful are corrupt. In your response, consider the relationship to the broader theme of The Pernicious Effects of Private Property.

In your concluding sentence or sentences, explain how the Utopians seek to prevent the rich and powerful from becoming corrupt.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by textual details, and a conclusion.

1. Utopia is considered an egalitarian society with both men and women as part of the workforce. How are gender roles represented in Utopian society? Are Utopian gender roles truly egalitarian? In your response, consider gender hierarchy in the household as well as church seating. How might this relate to The Origins of Social Problems and Their Solutions?

2. Raphael Nonsenso speaks at some length of the religious beliefs of Utopia, observing that “[t]here are several different religions on the island, and indeed in each town” (117). What role does religion play in Utopia? How do Utopian religious values support the island’s unique political system?

3. The two books of Thomas More’s Utopia are extremely different from each other in style as well as content. Analyze the structure of Utopia. Why do you think More chose to divide Utopia this way, and to what purpose? What effect does this structure have on readers and/or the text as a whole?

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Who introduces Thomas More to Raphael Nonsenso?

A) Peter Gilles

B) King Henry VIII

C) Amerigo Vespucci

D) Cardinal John Morton

2. Which of the following quotes best illustrates how Raphael Nonsenso views most European kings?

A) “In this respect you English, like most other nations, remind me of incompetent schoolmasters, who prefer caning their pupils to teaching them.” (Book 1, Page 22)

B) “Pride would refuse to set foot in paradise, if she thought there’d be no privileged under classes there to gloat over and order about.” (Book 2, Page 112)

C) “They’re far more interested, by hook or by crook, to acquire new kingdoms than to govern their existing ones properly.” (Book 1, Page 20)

D) “Human nature constitutes a treaty in itself, and human beings are far more effectively united by kindness than contracts, and feelings than by words.” (Book 2, Page 89)

3. What does Raphael mean when he says that “you create thieves, and then you punish them for stealing!”? (Book 1, Page 27)

A) People become thieves because society does not punish crime harshly enough.

B) The rich make some people thieves by corrupting them with perverse entertainments.

C) Poor people become criminals because of their economic and legal living conditions.

D) God creates some people as thieves and others as punishers.

4. What is the smallest social unit in Utopia?

A)The town

B) The Styward or District Controller

C) The household or family

D) The island

5. By what principle are surplus goods distributed?

A) According to need

B) According to seniority

C) According to status

D) According to location

6. Why are there no poor people in Utopia?

A) Because the poor are sent to the mainland

B) Because all resources in Utopia are divided equally

C) Because the poor are enlisted in the army

D) None of the above

7. Which of the following facts undermines the egalitarian ideals of the Utopians?

A) Utopian women are subservient to their husbands.

B) Everybody is encouraged to eat together at the dining halls.

C) Utopians do not value war.

D) Precious metals are not circulated in Utopia.

8. Which of the following quotes illustrates the limitation of personal freedoms in Utopia?

A) “[S]ilver and gold […] get no more respect from anyone than they deserve—which is obviously far less than that of iron.” (Book 2, Page 66)

B) “[I]t’s quite unjust for anyone to be bound by a legal code which is too long for an ordinary person to read right through, or too difficult to understand.” (Book 2, Page 87)

C) “Everyone has his eye on you, so you’re practically forced to get on with your job.” (Book 2, Page 65)

D) “Human nature constitutes a treaty in itself, and human beings are far more effectively united by kindness than contracts, and feelings than by words.” (Book 2, Page 89)

9. How do the Utopians prevent jewelry from being valued unduly?

A) By only giving jewelry to children, so that it is associated with infancy rather than prestige

B) By forbidding anybody from procuring or wearing jewelry

C) By giving jewels as payment to slaves

D) By making sure that everybody owns and wears identical jewels

10. What do the Utopians regard as the best way to win a war?

A) To exterminate the enemy completely

B) To destroy the enemy army but to spare all civilians

C) To win by diplomacy or cunning with minimal bloodshed

D) To avoid war and fighting completely

11. How does Raphael suggest that the Utopians’ communist way of life is compatible with and even essential to Christianity?

A) By embedding an in-depth theological discussion that quotes heavily from scripture

B) By citing evidence that Christ once visited Utopia

C) By claiming that many Utopians were easily converted to Christianity

D) By arguing that the Utopian Mythras is simply another name for Christ

12. How is the Utopian religion different from many other religions?

A) Utopians are open to revising their religious traditions.

B) Utopian religion does not recognize any supreme being.

C) Utopian religion has no priests or priestesses.

D) Only Utopian women are allowed to have religious beliefs.

13. Why was one of Raphael’s companions exiled from Utopia?

A) Because he tried to own private property

B) Because he was too idle

C) Because he killed somebody

D) Because he did not respect the rules of Utopian religious tolerance

14. What does Raphael mean when he says of the Utopians that “[n]obody owns anything, but everyone is rich”? (Book 2, Page 110)

A) That in Utopia wealth is based on currency, not land

B) That everyone is regarded as rich because they are highly educated

C) That people give up all of their material goods in exchange for currency

D) That Utopians share everything and therefore have true wealth

15. What does Raphael mean when he says that “Pride […] is always dragging us back, and obstructing our progress towards a better way of life”? (Book 2, Page 112)

A) That the Utopians are too proud to become great, despite substantial achievements

B) That pride drags people away from Christianity to false religions and beliefs

C) That pride prevents Europeans from learning from other nations, such as Utopia

D) That pride sustains people’s love of property and prevents the abolition of private property, which is necessary for a community to achieve true justice

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating textual details to support your response.

1. Why are there no lawyers in Utopia?

2. What is More’s opinion on Utopia, as described by Raphael Nonsenso?