Quest of the Spirit: From Suffering to Acceptance

76. Dystopian! Bellamy's Looking Backward

                                                                             Looking Backward

         "It must in truth be admitted that the main effect of the spectacle of the misery of the toilers at the rope was to enhance the passengers' sense of the value of their seats upon the coach, and to cause them to hold on to them more desperately than before"(5). This passage from Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward (1887) compares  the rungs of American society to a coach in which the  working classes struggle to pull the vehicle while the wealthy ride in the seats at the top. In this coach metaphor, the affluent hold little regard for those toiling to support them unless by chance  the vehicle may topple and its passengers thrown to the ground  where they too must now heave-ho the vehicle.  At times, the riders will bequeath their seats to heirs who depending upon current economic stability  and their proper management  of affairs may well continue to  reap the benefits of the common man. Upon rare occasions, the rider may toss  a crumb  to the sufferers as an apparent act to mitigate their discomfort, but more  than likely,  it is to salve his conscience.  Bellamy, however, observes that once a person ascends to a comfortable seat, he soon entertains the delusion that he in some noble manner is clearly superior to those supporting him. According to the author, "The effect of such delusion in moderating fellow feeling for the sufferings of the mass of men into a distant and philosophical  compassion is obvious" (1-5). ). Hence, Bellamy uses humor, satire,  irony to create a foreboding tone admonishing society to beware of the social  consequences  of Social Darwinism if social class indifference grows. In 1887, the year of Looking Backward's publication, a labor rebellion was occurring in Europe and in America, as in London's The Iron Heel.  Bellamy's protagonist begins the narrative in that same year, the date of his thirtieth birthday, by saying, "Strikes had become so common at that period that people had ceased to inquire into their particular grounds. In one department of industry or another, they had been nearly incessant ever since the great business crisis of 1873" (8). These strikes were the source of no small alarm to the public who witnessed the rise of so-called anarchists who advocated the use of violence if necessary to establish equality among all classes. The Chicago Haymarket Affair  occurred only a year before , on May 4, 1886, in which seven men were convicted  of a bombing at a  socialist demonstration and sentenced to death , all on circumstantial evidence (Goldman 7). According to Wikipedia.org.,  of the accused, four  were hanged, one committed suicide, and two sentences were commuted. "In 1993, the governor of Illinois pardoned the remaining defendants and criticized the trial." Nothing inspired her more to become a voice for the poor and underprivileged than the tragic martyrdom of the Chicago men that day, says Emma Goldman in her autobiography Living My Life (Dover 1970). According to Professor of Labor Studies William J. Adelman, "No single event has influenced the history of labor in Illinois, the United States, and even the world, more than the Chicago Haymarket Affair. It began with a rally on May 4, 1886, but the consequences are still being felt today. Although the rally is included in American history textbooks, very few present the event accurately or point out its significance" (Wikipedia.org./wiki/Haymarket_affair).  In his book Actions and Passions: Notes on the Multiple Revolution of our Time (1949), Max Lerner write, "Thus, even in economic terms, Ford's philosophy was the light that failed in the history of capitalism. When Model T came to an end in 1927, and Ford came out with a smoother, slicker, and better looking car, he lost his dominance and distinction in the automobile age. The others had caught up with him, and he no longer had the genius to strike out on new lines and forge ahead of them" (Lerner 40).   

               Bellamy expresses his displeasure toward social evolution in the conversation between West and Dr, Leete.As the narrative commences,  protagonist Mr. West, a  man recently turned thirty, is engaged to an aristocratic young lady named Bartlett (12), and he is building a home for them in Boston. Suffering from insomnia,however, the hero allows himself to be hypnotized (15) and awakens September 10, 2000, to a country much changed for the worse. Bellamy uses this dream to express his concerns over the future of the United States (20).   The main character's home  presumably had burned the night of his hypnosis, and it was assumed that he had perished in the conflagration. An examination of the ruins, however, disclosed "a recess in the foundation walls connecting with [his] chamber" (33). Shortly after his awakening, the hero talks with Dr. Leete about the social unrest of his day, and is assured that "The solution came as a result of a process of industrial evolution which could not have terminated otherwise. All that society had to do was to recognize and cooperate with that evolution, when its tendency had become unmistakable" (35). To Leete, the social and industrial problems associated with workers and inequality were merely the signs of a dramatic changes soon to occur in the nation (36). The doctor tells West that the minimal effect of public outcry against monopolies is ample  economic justification for them (40). Once the public recognized the need for this transition and relinquished their opposition to it, the door of a "golden future to humanity" was opened (41).  Furthermore, since these growing corporations were greedy and "capricious,' the federal government took control of them, for the common good and profit (41).Smaller capitalists were too "incompetent" to meet the "demands" of the modern age (40). In essence,  Orwell's Big  Brother or London's Iron Heel takes charge of man and machine. In Leete's words, "The epoch of trusts had ended in The Great Trust" (41). At this point, West interjects that such a social transformation from individual freedom to collective sovereignty could only result in vast bloodshed, to which Leete says, "The most violent  foes of the great private monopolies were now forced  to recognize how invaluable and indispensable had been their office in educating the people to the point of assuming control of their own business" (42)  The same principle, the doctor says, applies to labor and politics. No longer are there corrupt elected officials. The government controls that as well. It is up to the individual "to contribute his quota of industrial and intellectual services," without question or complaint (46-47). Confused and desperate, West  takes a walk through the streets, and finally talks to Mrs. Leete who ironically feels sorry for him because her society today is "heaven" compared to what he has known in his early life (64).

                   Bellamy voices his view of  the work ethic and  comparable rewards as an essential part of life in a dialogue between Dr. Leete and West.In a subsequent conversation with Dr. Leete, West learns that there exist no money, merchants, or banks anymore (66); and no monetary incentives to excel (76). One is expected to do his best because of his "honor . . . hope of men's gratitude, patriotism, and the inspiration of duty" (75). Food is the same in all distribution centers, as well (86-88). All workers are paid equally, despite talent, inability, or handicap because they too are a functioning part of the society. The government pays workers by rewards for their duty to the State, not money (106-108).One evening before going to bed, West was accompanied by Dr. Leete who showed him  musical telephone that would automatically play  and lull him to sleep with various tunes and moods. To his surprise, West slept soundly that night, and recalled his dream "in the banqueting hall of the Alhambra" (111). In essence, the music from the machine parallels the soma  and hypnotic sleep of Brave New World and the Victory Gin of 1984 because of its lulling effect on the subject and its distracting capabilities (11). Furthermore, since there is no longer any money for trade, an international council oversees that aspect of the economy (112). Ironically, the social problems addressed by authors such as Dickens and Thackeray are viewed as issues of a  primitive society that no longer exists. (119-120); thus, their relevance commands nothing but historical value. As in London's The Iron Heel, the public determines what is  good and acceptable,  as well as what is considered genius (132-133).

             Bellamy also expresses his view  of crime and and punishment through the words of Dr. Leete. One morning, while West was taking his morning constitutional, West passes by the old state prison, and recalls what Dr. Leete had told him about the difference in treatment of crime today. In essence, there are no prisons because there is so little crime,  there being no personal property or money. There are few lawyers, and no laws except basic statutes.  Law schools are non-existent, and suicides have disappeared, all because crime is now viewed as an illness, the result of "an insane mode of life"  during an earlier time in history (162-182).  West hears a  minister  on the telephone uses the rose garden metaphor to describe of society during the nineteenth century. Like the unweeded garden metaphor Hamlet uses to describe his kingdom,or Christ's Parable of the Sower,  the minister" compares the nineteenth century to  West meets and falls in love with a woman named Edith, yet he sense people's aversion for his gen"a rosebush planted  in a swamp, watered with black bogwater, breathing miasmatic fogs by day , and chilled with poison dews at night" (235). This bush had no true gardeners, and were not respected by the people until  finally the true gardener, the government of the current time, appeared and took an interest in humanity which once more transformed  the rosebush into a beautiful plant (238).

              Bellamy intentionally closes the novel with the dream sequence  to create ambiguity between the past and present. West meets and falls in love with a woman named Edith, yet he sense their aversion for his generation, as backward and bestial (240). West realizes that she only feels pity for him, and this awareness makes him the loneliest of men (242). After the hero confesses his love for her, Edith realizes that she too loves him truly (245). Ironically, Edith's mother then tells him that Edith is the great-granddaughter  of his fiance who died in the fire! The parents even have some of his love letters (245-246). West and Edith then happily agree to marry! Just  at that moment, the protagonist awakens from a dream. it was all only a dream (252).  His life is so changed that he is no longer the happy, affluent gentleman among the rich (268).  West describes this utopia to Edith's nineteenth century family, and they shouted, "Put him out!" (271). The surreal nature of the hero's expulsion proves still a part of his dream, and ironically,  West has a second dream which invalidates the first, placing him again in the twentieth century . Nevertheless, the hero feels guilty that he had nothing to remedy the social ills of his time. In the final image, West kneels before the face of his beloved Edith and expresses gratitude for existence in "this golden" century (272).

                                                                                   Works Cited

Bellamy, Edward. Looking Backward .  Introduction by Robert L. Shurter. New York:                                         The Modern Library College Edition, 1951

Lerner, Max. Actions and Passions. Notes on the Multiple Revolution of our Time: New York :                       Simon and Schuster, 1949.