Throughout Book 2, we are continually presented with Utopia as a place of sameness. Whether it’s in maintaining a consistency across household size or structuring the day so all are doing the same thing, there isn’t much differentiation. Perhaps this is most obvious in the fact that all wear the same clothes, the only variance being with gender and marriage status.

The thought of uniformity in clothing isn’t all that absurd (it is visible to a certain extent in our world today, eek), but in our case (and imagined others), the clothes are made by someone else. That is not the case in Utopia, as what I found most interesting is the fact that each family is responsible for making their own clothing.   Now typically when we think of something as handmade, we attribute with it a certain amount of uniqueness; there is a creator and there is a finished product, and at some point between the two, there is a certain je ne sais quoi transferred. And that’s not to mention the personal touches that are often added by the maker. But, as as know, personal and unique are very much individualistic terms that have no place in this fantasy world.

To us perhaps, handcrafted goods should speak on a personal level about the maker in some way. And I very much do think they do too here, only what is being said isn’t quite good, rather its a confirmation of the willful homogeneity accepted by the people of Utopia.

-peter d’antonio