#5 The Perfect World: Par 5

The early nineteenth century served as an innovative era for establishing utopias.  Utopias were created to “demonstrate the possibilities of perfection.” [1]  Their goal was to “replace the competitive individualism of American society with a purer spiritual unity and group cooperation.” [1]  Five people, all from different backgrounds and social standings, founded Par 5 in 1843 because they wanted to escape the discrimination and industrial competition in American society.  The five founders,Tri Tran, Vernon Eppard, James Kim, Mark Sythammavong, and Brittany Patonetz, collaborated to make Par 5 as close to perfect with equality as they could.  The utopia was named Par 5 because par means even and there were five founders.  This map reflects the ideals of group cooperation and unity through socialism.  “Socialism is an ideology with the core belief that a society should exist in which popular collectives control the means of power, and therefore the means of production.” [2]  Socialism has the goal of forming a classless society. [2] A socialistic utopian reflects the ideals of equality and unity and enforces people to work together for the common good of the economy in their society.  This utopian map emphasizes on the ideals of equality through the following: the towns centralization, distribution and size of homes, location of churches, existence of a main road, and location of farmlands and stores.

The government buildings are centrally located in this utopia.  This centralization prevents any specific group of citizens from being closer to the government than others.  Everyone is an equal distance away and has the same opportunity to be involved with the government through the city council.  This town’s centralization prevents the formation of an elite class further supporting the idea of equal opportunity among the citizens.  The school and doctor’s office are also found in the center of the community giving everyone an equal chance to receive and education and/or medical assistance.  A common area for everyone is also found in the center as the Town Square is here.  The central location of these places also enforces unity among the citizens enabling them to easy access towards their destinations.

The homes of the people circle around the center of the utopia.  As already stated, all the homes are approximately the same distance away from the facilities in the center.  The homes are also all the same size; there is no individual displaying more wealth through his/her home than another, but everyone has the same amount of space to live in.  All the people live together and are not separated into towns.  The lack of segregation shows that all villagers have learnt to cooperate amongst one another in order to survive.  Living together brings unity to a community such as that which is presented on the map.

Another important feature of this map is the location of the churches.  They are on the outskirts of town showing that religion is not a major part of this utopia, but it is allowed to be practiced by those who chose to.  Both churches are an equal distance from the homes, showing that no religion is favored over the other.  The churches are also a great distance from the government because religion plays no part in politics in this utopia.  The people are allowed to exercise a freedom of religion, but it is kept from disrupting the equality of the community because it is far away from the activities of the government, economy, and even the living area.

The main road of this utopia is named “The Road of Equality” and is the only way to leave and enter the town.  The Road of Equality permits the community to maintain their isolation, but still provide a way of contact with the outside world.  This community is open to trade with others allowing an influx of economical opportunities.  The main road allows this to happen, but also to be regulated.  There is only one road leading in and out of the town which results in easy directions to and from the utopia.  This prevents people from trying to disrupt or change anything radically.  The main road also provides a way for people that do not belong in this community to leave.  There is a prison; however, it is only used for minor crimes.  People that try to ruin this utopia are forced to leave. 

A large amount of farmland and stores are also found in this community.  The economy is based mainly on what is produced in the utopia itself through the work of agriculturalists and artisans.  The farmland and stores of this community are found on the outskirts proving that no social status is placed on the job of the citizens. Their equality is once again maintained.  The jobs that are placed the furthest away are those of the lumberjacks whose shops are close the forest.  The river nearby allows for their goods to be shipped to where people can use them.  The river also gives workers living out of town an alternative route for to their homes so they are no isolated from the rest of the community.

The utopian map focuses on the ideals of the early nineteenth century as it strives for “unity and group cooperation.” The utopia upholds the “middle class values of hard work” as everyone works together for the common good of everyone. [1]  Competition is eliminated among individuals reinforcing the town’s concept of unity.    The utopia’s geography allows the town’s people to interact closely with each other and the outside world.  This society may be diverse with specific social groups; however, the unique structural persistence indicates the society is built on a homogenous ideology of unity and equal opportunity.

[1] Davidson, Gienapp, Heyrman, Lytle, & Stoff. (2006). Nation of Nations. Boston: McGraw-Hill. pg. 324-326.

[2] “Socialism.” Wikipedia. 10 Oct. 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism>

Group Report:

Our group first met on Friday, October 8 at 12:40 PM.  We met at the information desk in the Johnson Center and then moved to the library.  There we took a vote on what our Utopia map was going to be based on.  After choosing a sociologist uptoia, we then discussed about what occupations were going to be in our utopia and made realistic decisions of scaling the map.  We also constructed a rough draft of our map on a piece of paper.  Mark, Brittany, and I had to leave an hour later, but Tri and Vernon had worked on the map for an hour more and touched up on the rough draft and created 2 more copies.  On Monday, October 10, Vernon created the final version of the map based on the rough drafts.  On the same night, Brittany had researched and compiled a rough draft of our Utopia's writing portion.  Brittany than sent the draft to Mark for proofreading.  We all received the draft by e-mail and gave our inputs and corrections as we finished up Monday night.

-James Kim