Utopian Societies

The problem of human evil has always occupied the mind of mankind. Even religious leaders have opined that it is inherent in human nature. Hindu cosmology states that it is cyclic & righteousness declines with the Yugas.

But the American writer Richard Bach wondered what if a culture grew up without evil? What would it do with all the energy that is now spent on destructive activities? A world where we choose our highest right & not our darkest wrong & where we lift each other up instead of always putting each other down? The result was a book called "Curious Lives" where these ideas are worked out by a society of ferrets.

A similar idea was worked out in Elizabeth Gaskell's "Cranford" (1853). This was specific to a semi-rural town in pre-industrial England. Interestingly, this town was inhabited mostly by spinsters of independent means where economy was virtue & waste & ostentation were anathema. The mindset of these dear ladies could not comprehend a small (presumed) theft without alarm. They would rush to the aid of any one of them in dire straits unanimously. They were so naive that they would not enter into a business enterprise, even for livelihood, without taking the permission of the established traders. Even more surprisingly, the established traders would gladly allow them & even send some of their customers, recommending that better goods were sold there!

Sadly this was the only work of Gaskell in these lines, her other novels dealing with ordinary humans in all their exasperating diversity.