Britanica, “Utopia: Ideal Community,” Britanica, Nov 27 2025.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/utopia

I needed an article that talked about the history of utopia to argue about how I want mines to be perceived differently.

Ciobanu, Calina, “Rewriting the Human at the End of the Anthropocene in Margret

Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy,” The Minnesota Review, Vol. 2014, Issue 83, Duke

University Press, Nov 1, 2014, pg. 153-162,

https://read.dukeupress.edu/theminnesotareview/articleabstract/2014/83/153/48147/Rewriting-the-Human-at-the-End-of-the-Anthropocene?redirectedFrom=fulltext

Ciobanu talks about humans changing both socially and culturally, along with the idea of the world changing as we know it. In other words, change being a big part of survival in a post-Anthropocene world. I will use this article as the stem for many of my arguments, focused less on fighting against Ciobanu and more on using her as supportive foundation for my arguments on adaptive utopias that are focus on culture and religion. Many of Ciobanu’s points focus centrally on the world changing and people changing for it, and it is something that I have noticed in many novels I have read both in class and out of class. I also notice that it is usually in tandem with some sort of utopian aspect. Ciobanu has many ideas that I agree with; however, in use they will probably be slightly different to exactly how she frames them. Overall, she will be my major steppingstone while talking about Atwood.

Jameson, Fredric, “Then You Are Them,” London Review of Books, Vol. 31, No. 17,

Sep 10^th 2009. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v31/n17/fredric-jameson/then-you-are-them

This is a glorified book review which I love. It isn’t like a normal book review which gives a thumbs up or down and a couple sentences why; it goes into depth to exactly what they believe to be good and bad about the first two novels in the MaddAddam trilogy. This being the biggest weakness because this article came out before the trilogy ended. However, its views on dystopian society, and religion as a utopian is very interesting and the reason why I’d love to go back and forth with this review, as while not to be a critical review in the scene of a journal article, it still brings up many good points.

Ramírez García, Lucía, “Static and Kenetic Utopianism in Octavia Butler’s Parable of the

Sower,” Zaragoza, Vol. 70, University of Zaragoza, 2024, pg. 159-176,

https://www.proquest.com/docview/3178327136?accountid=27495&parentSessionId=%2 BDq47MLHY6bwAEKcyw1Wu87d43RZFpAEUIK6sN7Ulh8%3D&pq-origsite=primo&sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals

Ramírez discusses two primary types of utopias: static, and kinetic. Static utopianism can be defined as staying inside of a bubble, and sticking to traditional values, and ideologies of the older world. So, it’s basically the idea of staying ignorant even after the world has changed. Kinetic utopianism is the idea of moving on from the old world and changing, hence the article’s use of Parable of the Sower which distinctively has these two types of “living” I would call them, as I do disagree that the way Lauren’s dad lives in as utopianism. In my opinion, it’s staying in the dark and doing exactly what caused the world to get into the situation it is in: being Ignorant. So, this article’s main purpose (for my writing) is open conversation for Parable of the Sower, in which I will disagree with static utopianism as thing, while adopting some aspects of kinetic utopianism in my argument. I find this article’s arguments to be interesting and it’s the reason I’ve kept it, as I never thought of Lauren’s community before Earthseed being a utopia. Yes, it’s probably better than walking out in the wilderness, but in my opinion, it has always been about, “staying in the abyss,” which is why Lauren’s dad mentioning of falling into the abyss is ironic, because they will always be in the abyss living in that community, the people living in it just don’t know it.

Stillman, G, Peter, “Dystopian Critiques, Utopian Possibilities, and Human Purposes, in Octavia

Butler’s Parables,” Utopian Studies, Vol. 14, No.1, 2003, pg. 15-31. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/20718544.pdf

Stillman discusses several aspects of dystopian literature within Parable of the Sower. One part being this “dream” argument, or the idea that many of the early utopian outlooks: escaping to other rich communities, living in the outside as a thief, or living in a cul-de-sac like Lauren does in the beginning of the book are just dreams and not actual possibilities of refugee. He also discusses real world logic and the idea of people tending to come up with scenarios to fix their situation in an ending world. He argues the use of realism to depict a collapsing world, and funnily enough even though not stated many statements in this article line up well with other Anthropocene articles we have read which is mildly interesting. When I first read this article, I would never have made that connection because I didn’t even know about it. Now this allows me to view the arguments differently. When talking about utopia, this article seems to lean heavy on Earthseed being the answer as it’s a new way of life. On top of that, it survives while the community that it creates does not. I would like to use this as an article to talk on Earthseed, and my argument for it as it’s an utopian entity because while it may not fall under the idea of utopia as a world in a world, or a world outside a world, it still does something all utopias are meant to do and that’s garner hope.

Ciobanu, Calina, “Rewriting the Human at the End of the Anthropocene in Margret

Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy,” The Minnesota Review, Vol. 2014, Issue 83, Duke

University Press, Nov 1, 2014, pg. 153-162,

https://read.dukeupress.edu/theminnesotareview/articleabstract/2014/83/153/48147/Rewriting-the-Human-at-the-End-of-the-Anthropocene?redirectedFrom=fulltext

Du Lanlan, “The Two Cultures Debate Revisited in the Posthumanist Age: Margret Atwood’s

Oryx and Crake as a Case Study,” A Journal of Literary Studies and Linguistics, Vol. X, Hunter Library, 2020, pg. 111-125, https://research-ebsco-com.proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/c/lyrnq6/viewer/pdf/wc53tkpkpz?route=details

Hui-chuan Chang, “Critical Dystopia Reconsidered: Octavia Butler’s Parable Series and Margret

Atwood’s Oryx and Crake as Post-Apocalyptic Dystopias,” Tamkang Review. Vol. 41,

Issue 2, Tamkang, University, June 2011, https://go-gale-com.proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=cuny_hunter&id=GALE%7CA267133518&v=2.1&it=r&aty=ip

Ramírez García, Lucía, “Static and Kenetic Utopianism in Octavia Butler’s Parable of the

Sower,” Zaragoza, Vol. 70, University of Zaragoza, 2024, pg. 159-176,

https://www.proquest.com/docview/3178327136?accountid=27495&parentSessionId=%2 BDq47MLHY6bwAEKcyw1Wu87d43RZFpAEUIK6sN7Ulh8%3D&pq-origsite=primo&sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals

Schmeink Lars, “The Anthropocene, the Posthuman, and the Animal,” Biopunk Dystopias:

Genetic Engineering, Society, and Science Fiction, Chapter 3, Liverpool University Press, 2016, pg. 71-118, https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1ps33cv.6?searchText=Atwood+Oryx+and+Crake+Religion&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DAtwood%2BOryx%2Band%2BCrake%2BReligion%26so%3Drel&ab_segments=0%2Fspellcheck_basic_search%2Ftest&refreqid=fastly-default%3A32e6dffca33e043e9d9d939d582e2da2&seq=1

Reflection on Getting Sources:

Honestly this was a doozy to get through. I’ve been taking peeks throughout the week to find sources and was having a hard time finding articles, or journals, or even chapters of books related to exactly what I was arguing; this meaning topic and all. However, after a while I started settling with pieces that resembled what I was talking about but possible under a different lens, such as culture or just plain critical dystopian articles. My plan is to understand these articles and take what they have that is similar to my argument and argue what isn’t apart of my argument as something I do not agree with, in a quasi-devil advocate. Maybe that isn’t the best way to explain it but if this is to be a critical article (I’m writing), my idea is to criticize not just the novels I’m writing on but the sources I indulge in my paper. So, that’s my plan, to kind of rip apart these texts. I tried to get sources between 10-20 pages; however, I have a behemoth in there that is going to probably take a lot to read: it’s 47 pages (unless my math is atrociously wrong). Yippee! However, I plan on skimming and taking notes on what’s only directly related to my paper as I highly doubt all 47 pages are related to my argument. I’m happy with the sources I retrieved even though they aren’t as direct as I wished. I used Hunter’s one search, and JSTOR as those are the two, I’m most familiar with. I did backwards search for the Ciobanu piece so I could get information such as the publishers, date of publication, and page numbers. So, I guess that means I used ol’ handy Google too. This was overall as usual as the citing experience goes, tedious but fun as it requires you to go digging for things which for me is fun.

Utopias in novels have always been presented in one of two ways. You either have a large world of dystopia and within that cramped world of semi-realistic horror you have a glimmer of hope, or you have a large dystopian world and outside of it, is a new beginning. This is ultimately true, and even with the novels I will be exploring, either of these ideas of utopia fit. However, I feel utopia has two settings. You have the idea of whether it is within or outside the current world, and you have the idea of what exactly the utopia offers that the current world is lacking. This latter idea is what I’ll be arguing as both, “Oryx and Crake,” by Margret Atwood and, “Parable of the Sower,” by Octavia Butler have religious themes within their novels that directly are involved with the utopia. Yes, Butler’s novel is more direct than Atwood’s novel with these themes as religion is the center point of the story, while Atwood’s novel possess pure thematic/descriptive happenstance, but both still possess enough similarities to be considered in their own sub-culture of utopian literature.

Atwood’s novel for instance possess this Holy trinity of characters. You can see this in two lens: what the characters would actually represent in a religious sense or as in the father, the son, and the holy spirit. Using the first lens you have Snowman, who by all accounts is literally a messiah like figure, maybe even an ancient Greek seer (if you’d want an example out of modern religion). Snowman hears the words of Crake and then speaks it to the people of Crake. Furthermore his voyage off to get goods for him to survive was labeled to Crake’s people by Snowman as a trip to see Crake. In general, Snowman is on all accounts connected to Crake, who the people of Crake (the Crakers) see as a God. Not to mention these Crakers are created by Crake to be this better species than human. Oryx can be seen either as this innocent being (like Virgin Mary), or this nature goddess. She is a figure of peace and care. The Crakers themselves also have many “religious activities,” that take place during the novel. Overall, I can’t wait to dig into this part of the argument more and find the cold-hearted evidence to drive my idea home.

Butler’s novel is more self-explanatory. You have Earthseed which in short is a religion of adaptation. The idea is, “God is Change.” Of course there is other parts to it such as teamwork/family, or in other words being a collective group that actually has each others backs. There is also a promise-land aspect to this book where the characters are trying to get to this great land (Bankole’s home). However, what I’ll argue exceeds the classic, “these novels have similar ideas”. I want to connect them even deeper than that. Both of these novels have a strong tonality for change. Crake wants to change humans, and Lauren wants to change how humans think. One believes change can still happen in the world, while the other believes we need to restart. However, this “change” they are seeking is interesting in itself, and the fact that both of them result in a religious culture is also interesting. It interesting that of all the things the Crakers are keeping from old humans, they are keeping religion. There is something there, something to crack open like an egg and explore. Explore the inner of the yolk and pull of the nutrients of a good argument.

I believe, Atwood and Butler have created a sub-genre of utopian literature that I’ll dub with simplicity: Religious Utopia. What I’ll argue is not determining whether I’m correct of coining a sub-genre(I’ll explain my thought process behind it but not much more than that), I will be arguing whether I am correct to conclude these novels are incredibly similar in their content, even while be vastly different in execution.

How does the argument for a religious utopia (a utopia that is either holding religious elements, or itself is formed upon a religion) square up in novels such as Oryx and Crake by Margret Atwood and Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler? Is this religious utopia a genre, or mode of literature?

“Weather,” by Jenny Offill is a fantastic modernist novel that looks at the world in a pessimistic light. It tries to brighten it through quirky writing that is direct with its messaging. However, there are a couple of ideas in this novel that are incredibly similar to another novel we’ve read during the duration of this class. These being time, and characterization.

First, time. Time as it is in “Weather,” in actually interesting. Time is mentioned within the books first part, but its hard to tell what its purpose is yet. The main character, Lizzie tells this story through several tight anecdotes that connect her life together. However, it is hard to tell what is the present of this novel. Is it everything or only certain parts? I feel like especially in the first 40 pages of the novel that we aren’t even in the present yet. Everything seems to have a reminiscence to it. By that I mean, Lizzie is looking back on things, but there seems to have to be a present, but where that present is within the anecdotes is hard to find. I feel the present and past are brunt within each other in the form of these tight knit anecdotes and that is purposely done to follow this pessimistic ideology of the novel. The idea that the world is just days passing, all melding within each other. And doesn’t that sound familiar? Margret Atwood’s, “Oryx and Crake,” follows an equally pessimistic Snowman who lives in a destroyed world where time is not known. No clocks work, and even if they did they’d probably be off. So, all days meld within each other and Snowman is forced to base the passing of time on the naturally occurring events of the Earth. How does this relate? Well, both have an unmetered time. As of now we don’t get a time period for, “Weather,” we are kind of allowed to assume it’s in the modern day as it makes the most sense. However, I can see this novel taking place in the near future, or be as relatable ten years from now as it is now. This novel’s relatability comes from the generation as which it caters to and that is the millennials and generation-Z, just something as basic as, “My #1 fear is the acceleration of days. No such thing supposedly, but I swear I can feel it,” (Offill 18). This quote speaks for many of people, time flies, tempus fugit, however, you wish to say it, and even that phrasing can apply not just to a small amount of people, but people over time. It’s a pessimistic strategy to include an indefinite fast passing time. Both novels include this, they include pessimistic themes that can be outline as, “Oh it’s the end of the world. Let’s just take it.” Atwood and Offill connect through pessimistic strategies, and pessimistic writing. So, let’s see how characterization further drives this from a loose connection to something that actually could be a great connection.

Snowman (Jimmy) and Lizzie aren’t two far on the personality charts as you’d like to think. Both of them have a type of self-deprecation that is used as humor. Both of them constantly make fun of themselves and the world they are confide in. Both of them have a sense of the world as it already being destroy, and see not much in trying to save it. However, I would like to mention we are probably to early along to determine Lizzie’s overall character. I still wanted to mention the obvious similarities between the two of them. The difference being the time period they live in. Snowman is the future, Offill is either present day, or maybe half a decade in the future. However, both hold this pessimistic value. I realized looking over this that this is extremely messy. So, I’m restate exactly what I’m connecting. Offill and Atwood both have pessimistic worlds and there characters are also pessimistic. I outlined one world detail and character similarities.