Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Looking Back Looking Forward free essay sample

In Looking Backward, Edward Bellary argued that one of the most significant problems facing America in 1 887 was the struggle of class and the values that the everyday citizen lived by and portrayed. In the past, everyone looked after himself or herself and did not live selflessly. The view of honor was skewed and people lived for currency rather than their countries and neighbors well being. A sense of equality is never reached like it has been in the utopia of the year 2000 that Bellary portrays.In the year of 1 887 the world was not completely in turmoil but slowly eating in that direction it seemed. A fear of industrial tyranny was sweeping the nation leading to strikes. M/hat should you name as the most prominent feature of the labor troubles your day? Why, the strikes, of course, I replied (pig. 34). In Bellarys current America there were wage strikes breaking out across the country in all industries including the railroads, steel, and car companies. In his current America everything was controlled by entrepreneurs instead of the government so business was cutthroat. The sales keepers and owners primary goal was to sell everything they had no tater the quality but simply to make their money to indulge in their own desires. In a society where wants controls everything it can push people to do dishonorable acts as Julian West was used to while in this utopian society there is not a need for nor is it possible to have these wrongful acts committed upon another. These wrongful acts being dishonest sales, or unfair labor. DRP. Elite explains the fear that the past was enduring. The records of the period show that the outcry against the concentration of capital was furious. Men believed that it threatened society with a form Of warranty more abhorrent than it had ever endured. They believed that the great corporations were preparing for them the yoke of a baser servitude than had ever been imposed on the race, servitude not to men but to soulless machines incapable of any motive but insatiable greed.Looking back, we cannot wonder at their desperation, for certainly humanity was never confronted with a fate more sordid and hideous than would have been the era of corporate tyranny which they anticipated. (pig. 35). Society was in doing what they felt needed to avoid this corporate tyranny. The men and Oman were trying to make things equal and workable. Like changing the workday from 12 hours to 8 hours so the body can relax instead of being in the harsh and dangerous conditions of work then.The work place was not becoming a place of passion but a place of servitude as Bellary says. He then goes further to say that their service is not to themselves or another being, but a machine that in turn feeds a depressing and unsatisfying greed that lives deep in this society. The way the working class was striving for change inspired Bellary to see this new society that was strangely possible. Bellary saw how people were unhappy in certain lines Of work but may have fallen into them not under their control or may have had to do a certain task because the pay was better.The way that people acquired their jobs in the future was through a long testing period and with a large cushion to figure out what one wanted to do in life. The most delicate possible test is needed here, and so we leave the question whether a man shall be a brain or hand worker entirely to him to settle. At the end of the term of three years as a common laborer, which every man must serve, it is for him to choose, in accordance to his natural tastes, whether he will fit himself for an art or profession, or be a farmer or mechanic. (Pig. 47). People had to work common labor for three years first to pay their dues and mature to start figuring out what profession they want to do. This rule I found was very interesting being a college student and having to choose what field of work I want to go in after graduation. These citizens were given time to work and then figure exactly what field they want to venture in and then directly go on that path. In a society based on honor to the nation, it makes a lot more ensue for people to work in their passion to continue to work hard instead of going where the money takes you.Instead of making a decision and then going to learn about Otto proceed, you are placed in work letting your interests blossom. The money system is has been flipped in this new world. Instead of people having currency to accumulate and save or spend to their pleasure, there is, A credit corresponding to his share of the annual product of the nation is given to every citizen on the public books at the beginning of each year, and a reedit card issued him with which he procures at the public storehouses. (Pig. 56-57). Now there is not an incentive to perform more hazardous or extraneous tasks.Now the workforce is fueled by the motivation of honor as if it were an army fighting for their country because ultimately they are fighting for their countries economy. Now that industry of whatever sort is no longer self-service, but service of the nation, patriotism, passion for humanity, impel the worker as in your day they did the soldier. The army Of industry is an army, not alone by virtue of its perfect organization, but by season also of the ardor of self- devotion which animates its members. (Pig. 63). Now people are working hard because they want to, not because they have to or because it is needed for a promotion.Although there are promotions and a ranking system they are not as appealing as when wages were increased and working conditions improved. The concept of shipping and moving goods from the place of purchase to the buyers home has also significantly changed. Instead of the consumer paying a moving service or manually transporting their goods home, there is tube system, which connects and ships everything. The village sample shops are connected by transmitters with the central county warehouse, which may be twenty miles away.The transmission is so swift, though, that the time lost on the way is trifling. But, to save expense, in many counties one set of tubes connect several villages with the warehouse (pig. 70). This faction was compounded with the fact that everything that was available was at one convenient store. Julian West states, The loss of time in going from shop to shop was indeed a waste which the busy bitterly complained of, I aid; but as for the ladies of the idle class, though they complained also, I think the system was really a godsend by furnishing a device to kill time. (Pig 65). Now there was more time for all citizens to be more productive and efficient in their own every day lives since a lot of the medial time consuming tasks have been taken. Our washing is all done at public laundries at excessively cheap rates, and our cooking at public kitchens. The making and repairing of all we wear are done outside in public shops. Electricity, of course, takes the place of all fires and lighting. We choose houses no larger than we need, and furnish them so as to involve the minimum of trouble to keep them in order.We have no use for domestic servants. (Pig 77). This takes a lot of the every day stress of living off the shoulders of citizens allowing for a happier society overall. Belays Looking Backward can be looked at as a historical reference. Julian West point of view was Bellary in a way speaking from the past to us in the present now. His references when he makes comparisons are valuable and credible because he knew what was happening in his current time.The way to interrogate the writings historical facts, one could cross-reference every comparison that West makes with his time and his future. Do not feel that this could be looked at as a primary document because in truth the book is a science fiction novel so any of the words in the book can be skewed to fit what Bellary wanted to get across. I do not think living in Belays future world would be to my liking. I believe that people should be rewarded in stride with the work they put in. I do not think a doctor and cashier should make the same wages. The more knowledge based tasks or more difficult tasks should be rewarded accordingly. I think the tube system is a really good and cool concept. Just like the fact of things shooting through tubes from destination to another like the television show The Stetsons. The ideas that have came to pass in some ways are like the stores where you can buy everything and the concept of limiting the distance for consumers to venture out and purchase items. There are stores today like wall-mart or Cost that literally have everything that one would need while shopping.I think that the world Bellary described was better than his current living conditions because he was living in a time of turmoil. A time where strikes were sweeping the nation and many people were not happy. Concerns were based on greed instead the well being of society. He lived in a time where the sickly and poor ran rampant but in the utopian society it was rare for these occurrences. For Bellary it was almost a fantasy from the place he called home. He believed that his reform and social reconstruction could lead America away from a time Of chaos fueled by greed.

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