Looking Backward

A detailed Summary of Looking Backward

Over a century after Edward Bellamy wrote "Looking Backward" it is still widely used to illustrate the social turmoil associated with the rampant capitalism of the late nineteenth century's industrial age and as an example of a socialist utopia. This analysis will answer several questions regarding the work: What was Bellamy's purpose for writing this novel? What were his goals? Did he achieve them? What influenced this book? These questions deal primarily with the political aspects of this book. However, since this is fiction the book must be analyzed on a literary level as well.

"Looking Backward" centers around Julian West, an upperclassman living in Boston in 1887. West serves as the narrator and begins to describe his life in 1887. This description included numerous references to the labor strikes which torment him in the construction of his new home, the completion of which directly affects his pending marriage to Edith Bartlett. Upon ending an evening of Dining with Edith and her family, West, a chronic insomniac, calls on the services of an animal magnetist who proceeds to induce some sort of trance which is allows West to get much needed sleep.

Bellamy's goals, aside from pointing out the flaws of the nineteenth century, were to map out possible solutions to these flaws and to do it in a way that would appeal to the masses. His map for an ideal society is a well intended one. He developed a socialist utopia that would have made Marx proud. For each problem that he pointed out through the perspective of Julian West he was able to give a logical solution through the perspective of one of the characters from 2000, usually Dr. Leete. When West asked how the growing domination of corporations and their innate struggle against the workers they employed was dealt with he learned that in 2000 there was only one corporation, the government, and that they control all of the production and distribution, as well as all the work force. More importantly this corporation was a non-profit one in which all the money made went back into the community, essentially eliminating money all together. This created a balance of power so to speak between the corporation and its employees in which one was necessary for the other to survive. Once this balance of power was in place workers were given all of the rights previously withheld from them by corporations who were interested in making a profit by getting the most work out of an individual at the lowest possible cost. Bellamy tried to push his ideals to the masses by planting them in a novel, hoping people would read it for the story and come away wanting to change society for the better.

s West does not awake from his trance when he is supposed to. He sleeps for over a century and is finally revived, without aging a day, in the year 2000. He is awakened in this new year by Dr. Leete who immediately offers a scientific reason for how this extended sleep is possible. After some convincing that it is not a practical joke West proceeds to learn about his new society, one that has changed drastically while he slept. Through much discourse with Dr. Leete and his family West discovers that the labor and economic trouble that West calls "The Sphinx's Riddle" of the nineteenth century have been entirely solved. Instead of his old industrial society he finds a new socialist country where all foreseeable economic troubles have been solved, all without sacrificing personal freedoms.

Bellamy was only partially successful in achieving these goals. The fact that the book is still bein

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1615
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels