The Big Idea
Raphael Hythloday encounters Thomas More in Antwerp to recount his five-year stay on an island with fifty-four identical cities. In this society, every citizen spends time farming, wears identical wool clothing, and lives in households where the oldest male leads. Private property does not exist, and gold is used for fetters or shameful badges rather than currency. Hythloday argues that this structure solves the corruption he observes in European states. While More expresses skepticism about the feasibility of such a system, the text presents the island’s rigid daily schedule, marriage laws, and military stance as a pointed critique of the political incompetence found in sixteenth-century monarchies.
Who's named
- Raphael Hythloday
The weary traveler who narrates the details of the island.
- Amaurot
The seat of the supreme council and the central city.
- Utopians
Citizens who share all property and labor across the island.
What it's really about
- Common ownership
- Abolishing private wealth prevents social corruption.
- State regulation
- Centralized control of trades and family movement.
Why it's memorable
- Ambassadors arriving in gold chains and pearls, which the islanders mistake for slave shackles.
- The city of Amaurot sitting on a hill with a two-mile descent to the river.
What it concludes
The narrator concludes by reserving judgment, admitting he prefers the island's model to current governments while remaining doubtful of its practical application.
For your book club
- Can a nation function without the incentive of private wealth?
- Why is centralized uniformity preferred over individual choice?