Utopia / Dystopia

Utopia / Dystopia Part I

Marla awakened to the feel of the sun on her face and quickly prepared for the day ahead. As a newly elected senior hunter this would be her first opportunity to lead a band in a hunt. Her parents looked so proud of her, she thought, as she mounted her horse and led her band of five out of the village.

When Marla and her band returned, it was with enough food to feed everyone for several days. Elahyn was there to help with the unloading and processing of the meat. He smiled and offered her his hand to help her dismount. Not that she needed any help, but she smiled back and allowed him to help her down.

He went back to work, while she took her horse to the stables, both missing the knowing smiles of their elders at the small interaction.

“Perhaps I should start thinking about marriage,” Marla thought as she fingered the locket at her throat that her mother had given her that morning.

The heart shape of the locket was crafted by hundreds of thin gold strings woven like a basket to be unbreakable. It was very old and it made Marla think as she touched it, “Elahyn is a great scholar and he seems to like me. Perhaps I will seek him out at the next festival.”

“Mother, I had a very strange dream last night. I dreamt of another Marla in a land of sliver and white. There were no open spaces and everything moved so fast,” Marla said.

“It was probably just a result of the myths and legends during storytelling last night dear. I wouldn’t worry about it.”

Utopia / Dystopia Part II

Marla slowly rolled over and leisurely fingered the buttons until she had the light to where it wouldn’t shock her eyes as she propped them open. She then pushed another button and a flicker of excitement went through her; her request to go shopping had finally been approved.

“That will please mother,” she thought. “As I am technically still a minor she can come too.”

Marla wondered fleetingly what her parents would buy her, in recognition of CompEd saying she qualified to go to a University. They had promised her something special if she decided to go.

“Perhaps I should just get married,” Marla thought as she touched the heart-shaped locket at her throat.

The antique locket was crafted out of hundreds of thin gold strings woven around and around to be unbreakable. It was very old and it made Marla think as she touched it, but you never know if the person you connect with online is the same person in real time.”

Marla’s mother had given her the locket at lunch as an early birthday present, it had been such a fun, perfect day.

Later that night she remembered her dream and with the speed born of repetition her fingers flew over the keyboard.

“Implications and Interpretations of Nocturnal Subconscious Reality”

1. Your name transfer indicates personal longing for a change of lifestyle.

2. Primitive surroundings indicate a preference for ancient history.

3. Recommend extensive history program at a distant University.

“University it is, there will also be a chance to meet people other than online,” Marla decided. “I hope mom and dad get me a personal transport!”

Utopia / Dystopia Part III

Which Marla is in Utopia? Which is in Dystopia? Why do you feel that way?

Do you feel either system is perfect? How would you change either world?

Can you determine the social structure from either story?

Does going to a computer with a question or problem as opposed to your parents have anything to do with your answers to the above questions?

How do you feel about each Marla’s approach to the day?

How do you feel about each Marla’s approach to marriage?

Which world would you rather live in and why?

If these two systems happened at different periods in time, which came first?

Could either system have been the result of the other? What could have caused the societal change?

Could the identical lockets mean one Marla was an ancestor to the other? If so, which one?