Fiddler on the Utopian Roof

I was recently assigned to read Thomas More's book Utopia for my British Literature class and it has really gotten me to thinking about what the ideal society should be in comparison to the one presented in More's book. I find that there are many holes in Utopia's rationale in determining the ideal conditions for a society to function. The country of Utopia is supposed to be the gold standard that is non-violent and rejecting of material wealth, yet they still have slaves and they still fight wars but hire others to fight in their place and hope that the mercenaries die because they are less than human because they are not Utopians. Personally, I would rather live in the village on Anatevka than in Utopia.

Anatevka, for those who do not know or do not remember, is the small Russian village where Tevye the milkman and his family live in the musical Fiddler on the Roof. Rich in tradition, even though nobody knows the origins of them, Anatevka is a niche location for Orthodox Jews who do not wish to be bothered by the Czar prior to the Russian Revolution. Although not everyone is wealthy, which Tevye, the hard working resilient protagonist sings about at length, people are at home in this community. Everybody has a role to play in the community whether they are Tevye the dairyman, Motel the tailor, Lazar Wolf the butcher, Yente the matchmaker, or the rabbi. Although the Christian governing class forces more issues on them as the story goes on and the Jewish residents are eventually forced out by the end, Tevye maintains a cordial relationship with the local constable who never wishes to hurt the villagers but is merely following orders from the top. Some may call Anatevka old fashioned, but their strong traditions are what keep them stable as a group.

Although both Utopia and Anatevka are less than ideal places to live, I would much rather live in the place that is not trying to be better than everyone and everything else. Utopia is too elitist and to desensitized to the realities of the world for anyone to live a satisfactory or healthy lifestyle. I for one would be perfectly content with delivering milk to my fellow townspeople and flailing my arms around while singing about whatever is on my mind (usually traditions or hypothetical wealth) as I travel about town. Basically, any routine activity becomes a lot more fun if you make it into a musical. Nobody ever made a Utopian musical. (I also think it would be fun to be a dancing chimney sweep because of Mary Poppins, but that is another story for another day.

Thomas More seemed like he was trying to please too many people and not really insult anyone when he imagined his ideal society. He writes the story told as a friend of his explains Utopia to More so he is not even responsible for the idea. If he wants to be taken seriously, More should grow a spine and take pride in his radical ideas instead of compromising for the sake of political correctness. Instead, he is shakier than a fiddler on a roof (it's late at night but I think that analogy makes sense) and is more wishy-washy than Charlie Brown (I know that one works).

Anatevka may be just as fictitious as Utopia or Middle Earth or the frozen planet Hoth, but it seems like a much nicer place than anything Thomas More has tediously written and more realistic than any place in the Star Wars universe that I wish I could live. If you have never seen it, I definitely recommend Fiddler on the Roof as it is one of my all time favorite musicals. I would not recommend reading Utopia unless you were required to for school or you want to get mad at Renaissance dudes for being stupid.