Nowadays, the discrimination against the women is not such fresh news for us, which happens mostly in the Middle-east countries, India, Japan, even China and so on. Although the situation today is much better than the previous years, it is still a sensitive problem. Also, the phenomena exist everywhere that the treatment between the privileged people, the politically connected kids and the sliver-spoon kids for example, and the ordinary people are unequal. We can see it from the social media, including the TVs or the networks. The news of buying and selling the slaves are almost disappearing now but wars still exist in certain global areas. What’s more, though the social institutions have been revised again and again, it still has limitations. The reason why I would analyze the contradictory phenomena in Utopia is that the similar contradictory phenomena embodied in the social status and the social institutions also happen in today’s 21st century, which advocates the liberty and equality. In fact, doing researches of the novel <Utopia> is the same as analyzing the society we are living now. The problems existed in that world is more or less the refraction of the reality of our society. Only letting more people realize the existence of the problems and then do something about them, can this society be more satisfying and desirable.
2. The conflict embodied in the aspect of social status
2.1 The status conflict between men and women
2.1.1 Men and women’s status in Utopia
Being influenced by the traditional concept that men play the key role in the society while women are confined to the family chores, the status that women in Utopia enjoy is not that desirable. For example, “the dressing and cooking their meat, and ordering their tables, belong only to the women”. (More 2014 page87) In Utopia, people live in the same area all eat at one hall. The sentence describes that all the preparation for the meal are done and only done by women. What men need do is just to enjoy all the delicious food. What’s more, while eating together, “the men sit towards the wall, and the women sit on the other side, that if any of them should be taken suddenly ill, which is no uncommon case among women and child, she may, without disturbing the rest, rise and go to the nurses’ room”. (More 2014 page87) By reading between the lines, we can also see something unfair against women, though this is just a very small detail. After working for a long time preparing for the meal, when women finally get the time to eat, they still can’t get the chance to sit towards the wall, which is exclusive for men. Even if they don’t feel well because of this, instead of being well taken care of, they have to rise and go to the nurses’ room by themselves. Isn’t it supposed to look after the weak? Isn’t it the thing that the gentlemen would do to give the ground to women and help them?文献综述
Besides these, there are also some other aspects that can prove that women are not treated equally by men. Young need to serve the old, which is quite understandable, because it is taken for granted to show piety to the old. But in my opinion, “wises serve their husbands” (More 2014 page84) is not reasonable. However, it is still the manners that people in Utopia advocate. Spouses are supposed to serve each other, aren’t they? Moreover, every time before people go to the church in some holidays, “wives fall on their knees before their husbands and confess everything in which they have either erred or failed in their duty, and beg pardon for it.”(More 2014 page171) However, the author hasn’t mentioned that men should also do the same thing to their wives. Why do men have this kind of privilege? Won’t they make mistakes? Is there anything they also need to confess? 乌托邦中矛盾的现象(3):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_80732.html