Looking Backward

Identify the strategies with which Bellamy appeals to his 19th-century readers in his assertions that an economy based on public capital is better than their economy based on private capital. What specific appeals may work on a 19th-century reader that are now historical artifacts today?

Bellamy chose to present his utopia in the form of a novel rather than an essay. How does the genre add to the way his readers approach his ideas?

What strategies does Bellamy use to criticize the 19th-century without criticizing his readers? How does the text inform you of who his target audience is through these strategies? Analyze how these strategies might help him win over his audience.

What role does religion play in Looking Backward, both spoken and unspoken? How is it used to persuade readers to accept Bellamy’s arguments? What is the problem with offering an image of utopia that is not religiously plural or equal?

Bellamy’s novel inspired many related utopian fictions. Imagine another city in the United States in the same universe as Bellamy’s Boston, and describe how that city has or has not changed in accordance with Dr. Leete’s principles. Analyze the practicality of implementing Bellamy’s arguments in the modern US.

Dr. Leete uses the analogy of one public umbrella and a thousand private umbrellas to illustrate why communal values are more efficient and ethical than individual values. Come up with your own analogy to make a similar point. Analyze how the novel reflects this analogy across the entirety of its plot. Explain how the novel reflects your analogy across its plot.

Find two instances where Dr. Leete makes contradicting statements. What does this inconsistency in Dr. Leete’s statements reveal about Bellamy’s biases?

Race is only mentioned twice in Looking Backward. What else seems to be missing from Bellamy’s imagined utopia, and how would its presence complicate the society’s perfection? What does this exclusion tell you about Bellamy’s rhetorical aims and ideas about utopia?