Edward Bellamy's Novel Looking Backward

Edward Bellamy, in his novel Looking Backward: 2000-1887, intends to portray a utopian future, but instead creates a society whose citizens are oppressed by the government. Bellamy makes clear in the novel itself, as well as in both his Preface and Postscript, that he believes the society he portrays is not only achievable but desirable, and that the government he portrays is not oppressive but instead essential to the creation and maintenance of such an ideal society. However, like all utopians, Bellamy sees what he wants to see and ignores the rest. The government in his society does indeed impose an oppressive regime upon the people. This study will examine the nature of that oppression and will illustrate it with examples and their negative effects.

The essence of the government's oppression is its failure to allow the freedom of the people which is the core of a democratic government. The society of Bellamy's imagination is one in which not freedom but order is held up as the highest goal of government. Accordingly, we find the author assessing the role of government according to the order it imposes on society rather than in terms of the freedom it affords.

For example, in the realm of literature and freedom of speech, the book makes the argument that all citizens are equally free to express their views. However, this freedom is deceptive, because it is based on what is actually a system of economic reward and punishment. Publication is open to all---as long as the in

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the narrator argues that in his earlier era the people would have been horrified at the thought of the government running the nation's industry, Dr. Leete responds, "All that is changed now. We have no parties or politicians, and as for demagoguery and corruption, they are words having only an historical significance" (59). This is, of course, a situation painted by a man in complete denial about the innate shortcomings of human nature. It is simply absurd to argue that the greediest breed of human being ever created---the capitalist---would suddenly become a benevolent, philanthropic, selfless leader concerned not with his own power and wealth but with the "common interest for the common profit" (57). The government in Bellamy's utopia encourages monopoly which will magically transform capitalists into social-minded saints (56). What this situation will in fact create is an oppressive society in which the people are complete slaves to the whims of the monopoly, which in turn is protected by the government. In fact, as in today's capitalist society, there seems to be little difference, if any, between the capitalist and the government leader. The result, in either case, is the oppression of the people who are powerless in the fa

Category: Literature - E