Utopia: a place of ideal perfection especially in laws, government and social conditions; often impractical Dystopia: an imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives “The standard that a society should actually embody its own professed principles is a utopian one, in the sense that moral principles contradict the way things really are — and always will be. How things really are — and always will be — is neither all-evil nor all-good but deficient, inconsistent, inferior. Principles invite us to do something about the morass of contradictions in which we function morally. Principles invite us to clean up our act; to become intolerant of moral laxity and compromise and cowardice and the turning away from what is upsetting: that secret gnawing of the heart that tells us that what we are doing is not right, and so counsels us that we’d be better off just not thinking about it.” -Susan Sontag Above, you will find not only the definitions of Utopia and Dystopia, but a statement about the moral principles of a society, filmmaker, professor, and political activist Susan Sontag. Your task is twofold: Read two of the three novels (Anthem MUST be one of them) looking for common connections in the ideas of a utopian/dystopian society. Anthem by Ayn Rand ?
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