It is also certainly graspable why the book had such(prenominal) a large charm at the time it was written. As Martin says, there are devil primary reasons why a writer creates a Utopia, " discontentedness with the present and hope for the future" (100). Following the terrible premiere World War (in which the cause Conway suffered so much), in the midst of the Great Depression (which undermined the sense of stability good deal had slightly their beingness), and with the fear of warfare building everywhere from Europe to India to japan this period was one of the most ominous in novel history and it does not just look that way in retrospect when one knows what was to take place in the latish 1930s and the 1940s. Like so many others Hilton "saw enough to be sure that the future held great danger to all mankind" and he knew how badly people wanted to escape the present and develop hope (Martin 100). The simplest
But with a very different consciousness of the res publica of the world today it is a little more ticklish to accept what is appealing in Hilton's fantasy because, perhaps, we gain a little better how the world came to be in such a state in the early 1930s. This does not correspond that our world is in much better shape; in many respects--such as change magnitude destruction of the environment and increased exploitation of the so-called Third World--it is worse. But we do understand the underlying causes of much of our misery better than Hilton did.
The idea of his terrestrial paradise reveals, probably unconsciously, the racism and exploitation of people that are behind so many of the world's problems then and now. Neither Hilton himself nor his character Conway questions these assumptions at all. Chang tells the strangers, for example, that the valley has "several thousand inhabitants living under the control of our order" and that they have achieved "a considerable decimal point of happiness" through the order's " assure strictness" and its satisfaction with "moderate obedience" (82). This strikes Conway as a fine plan. The crops will be raised, the women will be exploited for sexual satisfaction, the errands will be run, the burdens carried, the buildings built, and the gold mined so that the small number of people who live at the lamasery can dream of the better world that they hope to bring about when the present one go into ruin. The people of the valley are also credulous and superstitious and do not share (nor care that they do not) in the wonders of the lamasery.
Crawford, John W. "The Utopian Eden of Lost Horizon." Extrapolation 22.2 (1981): 186-90. Rpt. in 20th Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Dennis Poupard. Vol. 21. Detroit: Gale, 1986. 101-3.
way of putting aside thoughts of war is "a dream of escape" and this is what Lost Horizon provided (Martin 100).
Order your essay at Orderessay and get a 100% original and high-quality custom paper within the required time frame.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.