Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Utopia vs Dystopia in Camazotz
As we can see from Charles Wallace, IT firmly believes it has created a Utopian society on Camazotz. People there are "freed" from thought, which has led to peacefulness. However, Meg and Calvin aren't so convinced. What aspects of Camazotz, if any, seem utopian to you? Conversely, which details seem dystopian? Explain your answer using your own opinion, details from the novel, and/or connections to the real world.
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I think Comazotz is in some way a utopia. This is beause you can relax and have no responsibilities. Comazotz is a dystopia because you can not make your own decisions. You can never decide what to eat or where to go. It may seem like you are but you never really can decide anthing. You can not even have your own thoughts. IT is the controller of all things living in utopia. IT has complete power. Another thing is you can never be yourself. If you do try to be yourself like the boy bouncing the ball you are punished. If you have a cold you are killed. I know that I would much rather live here on Earth. Even though you would have no responsibilities I would rather be my own person than to be controlled.
ReplyDeleteCamazotz: Utopia or Dystopia?
ReplyDeleteUtopia Dystopia
An ideally perfect place, especially in its social, political, and moral aspects. An imaginary state or place, in which the condition of life is really bad.
• In Camazotz, you can synthesize food, so there is no hunger.
• There are no problems, no wars, or disputes.
• Camazotz is very much like Earth. • A tyrannical brain named “IT” possesses everyone and makes them all exactly the same.
• Any different person is punished.
• Any sick person is terminated.
• There are no names, everyone is the same, and parents are a “misconception”
I think Camazotz is more of a dystopia than a utopia. Even though humans on Camazotz can synthesize food and there are no problems at all, they are all stripped of their free will and have no conscious thought. Anyways, any person that doesn’t follow the exact same pattern as IT is severely punished and any deformed or sick person is terminated. When Meg, C.W and Calvin are walking towards their father, C.W tells them that a father is a misconception. Names also don’t exist, since the man with red eyes tells them to call him some word that is not a name.
The whole idea of a world without war and fighting seem like a utopian society to me. Everything running smoothly also seems nice. But everything being perfect can get boring. This part seems dystopian to me. If everyone shared one mind, they would never be able to be able to do whatever they want. IT says that this is freedom and can be relaxing, but I don't see anything free about it. In fact, IT's idea of freedom is the complete opposite of free. So after everything that I've considered, I think that Camazotz would mainly be dystopian to me.
ReplyDeleteThis blog post has to be the most interesting one about "Wrinkle in Time" yet. The utopian and dystopian concepts compared and contrasted with Camazotz give a new twist and that "thinking outside the box" quality that is hard to discover. ;D
ReplyDeleteTo start off, I believe Camazotz is more of a dystopian planet. Even though the "paradise" qualities such as a lack of war, sickness, unhappiness, arguments, and unorganization are found, Camazotz isn't the perfect place to be for me. I believe that indiviuality and creativity need to shine, and if we are all synchronized to think the same and act the same, then we aren't living our lives the correct way.
The dystopian aspeects that I found include:
-no freedom of speech
-no happiness or moods
-an almost scarily hypnotic lifestyle
-life is just dull
I also do have a comment and observation. At the end of Chapter 4 or 5 (not sure) where Meg and Calvin are naming famous artists such as Bach, Shakespeare, da Vinci, etc. I was confused on why names of famous people in our society were just being called out by the kids. Now, however, I noticed that maybe the Darkness/Black Thing could be controlled by IT, and Camazotz has been conquered by IT. IT has eliminated all differences from life on Camazotz (as we can see), and there is a certain sameness. My observation is that our planet in "A Wrinkle in Time" hasn't been defeated by IT because of our artists, poets, mucisians, etc. because we have those "shining stars" with us that make a difference, which may have not been seen on Camazotz. If you don't get what I'm saying, it's a little scattered but I felt that thought should be shared. :)
Enjoy your day!
In my opinion, if you ask me, I think there is no real aspect that proves that Camazotz is like a peaceful paradise. All of my main reasons seem to bend towards the Dystopian mode of the story. For example, why would someone put someone to sleep, or as Calvin says, to "murder" them, because they are sick. In reality, a majority of the sick people get better and sooner or later, are back on their feet. Putting them to sleep would just be a waste of a perfectly good life. Also, as stated in the book, Camazotz is a perfectly synchronized place and anything that is disordered is put back to place by punishing in a hurtful way. Many people should be able to make their own decisions and to have someone tell me to do everything like the other, I wouldn't particularly like that. These are, of course, only a few aspects that I picked out. These I thought were some of the clear and best examples.
ReplyDeleteThey are many trade offs in this book. If you are sick or have a cold IT will kill you. No worries are needed since they are controlled. No crime happens. You cannot think something different or create something new. It is painful to go though these changes. Everyone seems to live in fear of IT. Everything you do it planned out, nothing is different. All of these things come into play, but I believe that it is a Dystopia society. No true happiness can ever be reached, as Meg stated, if you never feel unhappiness. PS. I love this book!!! =)
ReplyDeleteI think Camazotz is a messed up planet. Their way of totally messed up by whatever IT is. Camazotz should be considered as a Utopia because it is clean with plenty of flowers, everything is organized so people know where to go, there is one, final ruler, so nobody will fight about becoming the next IT or anything, there are no sick beings, no disputes, everyone gets along, and everyone is brilliant. Camazotz is a Dystopia because no one has their own mind, no one has their own opinion, if you get sick, you die, if you play with your ball or jump rope out of rhythm, you go through a painful punishment, and that there is no freedom at all. Overall, Camazotz is a cruel place in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteInteresting responses! (Sam, you'll have to e-mail me so you can get credit.) I enjoy reading that you are pointing out the qualities that some people would love in their society, but at the end of the day, it seems (so far) that free will trumps all.
ReplyDeleteUtopia or Dystopia?
ReplyDeleteI think that Camazotz could be a dystopia or utopia depending on the way you look at it. I think it is a utopia because everything is organized and peaceful. Nobody disagrees with anyone so there are no wars. However the thought of not being able to be yourself and unique makes it a dystopia. Everyone is programed by IT and nobody can think for his or her self. Also, I think it is very harsh for someone to be killed just because the get sick. Obviously, I think most people can agree that Camazotz is more of a dystopia than a utopia.
I think Camazotz has some aspects that make it a Utopia, and some that make it a Dystopia. I think the aspects that make it a Utopia are no one fights or disagrees, it is a clean planet with plenty of flowers, there's a time and place for everything, and no one is ever sick. The aspects that I think make it a Dystopia are when someone's sick, they are murdered, or 'put to sleep'. Also, the people of Camazotz cannot make their own decisions or have their own opinions. IT takes away all their freedom, and makes them a robotic being. Over all, Camazotz needs a lot of help, and IT needs to be destroyed.
ReplyDeleteCamazotz
ReplyDeleteUtopia
An ideally perfect place, especially in its social, political, and moral aspects.
-Food is more nourishing
-People are never sick
-People are never angry or sad
Dystopia
An imaginary state or place, in which the condition of life is extremely bad.
-No one is different or unique
-Anyone who is sick is killed
- Everyone is under the control of IT
- No one is ever happy
Utopia
ReplyDeleteOne of the Utopian qualities of Camazotz is how you are stress free. Everything is left to IT. On Camazotz it is a very peaceful society. This is due to the fact that everything is always in order. Everyone's thoughts are controlled by IT so there opinions will never differ causing something like a war to start.
Dystopia
Camazotz is a Dystopian planet because you don't have any freedom. You can't feel how you want to feel, your not allowed to do what you want to do. Everything on the planet is controlled. To me I feel freedom is something you can't put a price on. So for them to have to do whatever IT feels like is not a very appealing thing.
I think there is an equal number of evidence that Camazotz is a Utopia AND a Dystopia. Camazotz is a Utopia because you can relax and because you are controlled by the giant brain called IT, you have no responsibilities. In Camazotz, there are no wars and no one ever fights. Another good thing about Camazotz is that no one is ever judged. If everyone was the same, there would never be anyone left out or considered "different" or "weird".
ReplyDeleteCamaztotz could also be considered a Dystopia. I feel the people in Camazotz are really treated just plain unfairly. I mean, getting killed just because you have the common cold seems pretty harsh. If the people of Earth went to Camazotz, im pretty sure we would all be dead. That is definately not fair way to go. Another thing that makes Camazotz a Dystopia is that you can't make your own descisions. I think I for one would die in Camazots because you can't even express yourself! Your personality, clothes, everything; it would all be boring and just like everything around you. Speaking of boring, wouldn't everything being the same get awfully annoying? It seems pretty boring to me.
So, that being said, I feel that even though there is about an even number of reasons Camazotz could be considered a Utopia or Dystopia, it is still a Dystopia. The harsh rules of society would edefinately rule over anything that would give you a reason to consider Camazotz a Utopia.
In my opinion, Camozotz is definitely a dystopia.There is no freedom whatsoever. Everyone does the same thing everyday, and there is no change, and you don't make any decisions. To me living on Earth is far better than Camozotz.
ReplyDeleteCamazotz is a mix of a Utopia and a Dystopia, like every civilization. Camazotz is a Utopia for its peacefulness and respect to IT. IT controls everything, and every mind, so no one can rebel against IT. Camazotz is a Dystopia since it is so plain and bland. There is no excitement to life there. Everyone is controlled and the same, with the routinely schedule. Camazotz, although a peaceful, organized place, is too boring and unrealistic. If I had to conclude, Camazotz would be a Dystopia.
ReplyDeleteI think that Camazotz is a dystopian planet. What makes it dystopian planet is the fact that everything is well organized and perfectly in order. That seems almost to be perfect. Since there is no such thing as perfect, this would be hard to imagine. In reality, you can't really be perfectly syncronized and everyone moving at the same speed and pace. You are bound to have a slip up or disfunction. Camazotz also seems very dystopian because when you are sick, IT prtuts you to your death. I think this is completely unfair and unrealistic for many reasons. First, you can't control when your body gets sick, (for the most part). So it is completely illegal and unfair for someone or something to kill you over something you can't even control. Second, I get that they don't want to infest everyone with one sick person, but that is no excuse to kill that person. Last, today, it is illegal to do something like that. It would be called man slaughter and you would most likely be sentanced your life in prison. Putting a sick person to there death is completely dystopian. You have no freedom or indiiduality on Camazotz whatsoever. IT controls you and you have know say in what happens. Camazotz is definitely Dystopian.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Camazotz has some qualities of both a Utopia and a Dystopia.
ReplyDeleteFor example, Its a Dystopia because it prevents people from getting sick by putting the sick people to sleep or murder them as Calvin says. They also do not have freedom of speech since "IT" controls them. In my opinion a world without people (like us) having a say in things is not perfect to me, but "hey" everyone has their own opinion, right?
It might also be a Utopia because there are no criminals, everyone has a job, their economy is doing great, and nobody is sad or depressed for that matter.
I think that Camazotz is a Utopia because you never have to worry about your differences and won't get bullied. If you are already in Camazotz life is easy for you and everything is normal. However, because IT controls Camazotz there are many dystopian aspects to it. For example IT eliminates all differences. Because he eliminates these differences, those who fall sick are immediately put to sleep. Also, since IT controls Camazotz, the people of Camazotz have no say in its decisions. Overall, Camazotz is an unsafe place to live so long as IT has complete control over it.
ReplyDelete~ Through deep thought, I have concluded that Camazotz is a mix of Utopia and Dystopia for many specific reasons. One reason that Camazotz is Utopia, is because it is very peaceful and organized, and you can relax because the "boss," and the "Happiest Saddist,' and IT controls everyone and everything. IT is the ruler and mastermind of Camazotz. Another reason that Camazotz is Utopia, is because of Camazotz being so peaceful. There is no war or controversy because of IT controlling everyones minds. But, Camazotz could also be considered Dystopia because of their harsh rules. For instance, if you have a minor cold, they will kill you. Also, if you are different they will punish you. For example, when the kids were bouncing balls outside, they were all in a synchronized rhythm and only one little boy wasn't and he was punished because of his lack of perfection. Lastly, on Camazotz, the people don't possess any freedom. So, I'm concluding that Camazotz is both Utopia and Dystopia.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the last post. In my opinion, IT is terrible, and different is good. I can't really say that this isn't a mix because the people living on Camazotz seem to thnik that Camazotz is perfect. Then again IT is thinking for them.
ReplyDeleteIt seems great to me to live in a world without war, bullies, hate, and sickness. Camazotz is filled with flowers and is beautiful. There is no fights and everyone seems to be in the right place. It also would be cool to be able to move atoms. IT says that everyone on Camazotz is happy. I dissagree with that, just like Meg, I too feel that even though there is no sadness on Camazotz the people there aren't happy either. I think it would be horrible to be the same as everyone else. Everyone should have their own personality. Our personality is what makes us unique. It just doesn't feel right when people bounce a ball at the same pace. Since everyone is the same, if you do something wrong you have to go through a very painful procedure to make it right again. For example, the little boy in the book who was bouncing the ball at the wrong pace. We later saw him bouncing a ball in chamber. Whenever the ball hit the ground the boy winced as if it was hurting him. Even though I have morew reaons to call Camazotz a Utopia, I feel that my reasons for Camazotz to be a Dystopia is more important to me. So, to me it seems that Camazotz is a Dystopia. I would feel awful living there.
ReplyDeleteThe aspects of Camazotz that seem utopian to me are the lack of fights and the lack of differences. These characteristics are utopian and make all of Camazotz' residents feel equal. One example of everyone's equality is how the children bounce their balls in rhythm, the wives come out of their houses at exactly the same time, the husbands come home at the same time from work, and all the lights turn off in the same moment. In the examples, everyone is exactly alike, no one better off than anyone else. On the other hand, the annihilation of anyone with a sickness, as well as the torture and punishment that is sometimes carried out, seems very dystopian. For example, a boy who bounced a ball without rhythm is locked in a room and whenever he bounces the ball he feels pain. I think this act is cruel and heartless because the child who bounced the ball incorrectly did not know any better and the punishment did not fit the crime.
ReplyDelete