Utopia: at what cost

Utopia is an idea that can serve two polarizing mindsets: one of a community-minded mentality to that of one focused only on the individual. We constantly seek perfection for our own gain and is a reason that we continue after utopian ideals. Yet there are also those who pursue the concept of utopia so as to better serve mankind, so that, maybe one day we will live in a perfect, and equal society. We see the terrible events that can occur because of our past and our current systems and we want to better it. Utopia is at its core a perfect world and who wouldn’t want to seek it.

In "Fresh Hell: What's Behind the Boom in Dystopian Fiction for Young Readers?," (http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2010/06/14/100614crat_atla... ) written for the New Yorker, journalist Laura Miller notes it may be this idea of “rebirth and betterment” that attracts young readers to utopian and dystopian novels. She notes that “[O]ur errors and delusions may lead to catastrophe, but if—as usually happens in dystopian novels for children—a new, better way of life can be assembled from the ruins would the apocalypse really be such a bad thing?” Yet while young readers may be presented with a happier ending most adult dystopian novels focus on the consequences of our constant search for perfection. “The adult dystopia extrapolates from aspects of the present to show readers how terrible things will become if our deplorable behavior continues unchecked,” says Miller.

It’s natural for humans to seek out bettering our selves and our lives, and thus that is why utopia is always on the tips of our fingers. Yet at cost do we attempt to attain it? Do we have top endure an “apocalyptic” scenario to get there as many young reader novels suggest or is it never attainable? Because if we were to seek it, would cost us more than we could handle and inevitably down a road towards dystopia?