{"id":1930,"date":"2019-02-22T11:41:08","date_gmt":"2019-02-22T16:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bsuenglish.com\/dlr\/?p=1930"},"modified":"2019-02-22T11:41:08","modified_gmt":"2019-02-22T16:41:08","slug":"the-prison-utopia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/2019\/02\/22\/the-prison-utopia\/","title":{"rendered":"The Prison Utopia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By: Marlee Jacocks<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Image via <\/em>Google Images<\/em><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The existence of a prison within a utopian society seems entirely contradictory, yet prisons become a source of fascination for Anarres\u2019 children in Ursula K. Le Guin\u2019s 1974 novel The Dispossessed. <\/em>The utopian society is portrayed through the eyes of Shevek, a physicist who lives onthe planet Anarres. In a flashback scene, Shevek reveals the details of \u201cthe prison scene\u201d found in Le Guin\u2019s ambiguous utopia. While learning about the history of their neighboring planet, Urras, Shevek and his fellow classmates hear about prisons for the first time, and they quickly become engrossed with the concept. This interest prompts Shevek and others to create their own prison and act as guards and prisoners to better understand this system that does not exist on their planet. Adding to the shocking inclusion of this prison in a utopia, is the scene\u2019s stark similarity to Philip Zimbardo\u2019s 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment. Zimbardo\u2019s psychological experiment with young adult men was intended to simulate the prison experience from the perspective of both guardsand prisoners. The fictional scene from The Dispossessed<\/em> strongly reflects the Zimbardo psychological experiment in its critique of the treatment of prisoners, specifically the violation of their basic human rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u200bOn the planet\u00a0Anarres\u00a0in\u00a0The Dispossessed<\/em>, there are no physical prisons nor are there any\u00a0laws to break or rights to violate. So, when\u00a0the protagonist,\u00a0Shevek,\u00a0and\u00a0his friend,\u00a0Tirin, first learn about the concept of a prison in school, they are naturally curious,\u00a0as\u00a0most 11-12-year-old boys would be. Their situation is\u00a0quite different from boys\u00a0on the neighboring planet, Urras, where prisons do exist.\u00a0In\u00a0order\u00a0for Shevek and\u00a0Tirin\u00a0to fully grasp this concept of\u00a0a\u00a0prison they must immerse themselves in the actual scenario. Thus, Shevek and\u00a0Tirin, with a few of their\u00a0friends,\u00a0make\u00a0their own homemade prison below their Learning Center\u00a0by closing off a small cement alcove with a large rock.\u00a0There is\u00a0just\u00a0one entrance to this\u00a0cave, and it can only be opened from\u00a0the\u00a0outside of what the boys determine to be the prisoner\u2019s cell. One boy\u00a0volunteers as\u00a0the first prisoner,\u00a0subjecting\u00a0himself to four hours of imprisonment. After these four hours, the power begins to grip Shevek and\u00a0Tirin\u00a0as they pressure their prisoner and challenge\u00a0him\u00a0to re-enter the\u00a0cell\u00a0for an undisclosed time period, which he agrees to do. When they decide to release their\u00a0captive\u00a0after a total of 30 hours,\u00a0Shevek and\u00a0Tirin\u00a0find him \u201claying on the ground, curled up on his side\u201d and when he stepped out, \u201cthe smell that came out with him was unbelievable\u201d (Le Guin 40). The boy suffered from diarrhea and was forced to defecate in his own prison cell.\u00a0This physical response to imprisonment reflects the much larger psychological ramifications of imprisonment, even in what, to most readers, might seem like a relatively short confinement.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image via <\/em>PrisonExp.org<\/em><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u200bWhile this account from Le Guin is fictional, the details ring true from the report of Zimbardo\u2019s Stanford Prison Experiment. From a pool of volunteers, nine prisoners and nine guards were chosen at random. Prisoners were treated to the entire process of being\u00a0arrested on mock charges. They were\u00a0handcuffed by a police officer, taken to the police station, and finally brought to the makeshift jail put together in the basement of a Stanford academic building. Guards were given little to no directions or training on how to be guards, rather they were\u00a0just\u00a0told to keep law and order within the prison.\u00a0The experiment then unfolded as the guards and prisoners fell into their roles\u00a0\u2013 a\u00a0little too well. Rebellions\u00a0soon broke out among the prisoners as they attempted to exercise any little control and freedom they had left;\u00a0however,\u00a0the guards quickly turned abusive and sadistic as they tried to instill law and order.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u200bWhat was intended to be a 2-week long study ended after six intense and tumultuous days due to the unnecessary amounts of emotional and physical trauma the prisoners underwent. Not only did the experiment volunteers take their roles too far, but the researchers did as well. They were unable to recognize the ethical and moral violations until outside researchers were brought in and began asking questions. While the Stanford Prison Experiment and its results have received widespread attention, it becomes even more illuminating when considering the context\u00a0in parallel to\u00a0Le\u00a0Guin\u2019s\u00a0prison scene. As\u00a0Tirin\u00a0falls into his role, much like the guards of Zimbardo\u2019s experiment fell into theirs,\u00a0Tirin\u00a0tells their prisoner\u00a0before the second round of confinement, \u201cYou can\u2019t ask why. Because if you\u00a0do\u00a0we can beat you, and you just have to take it, and nobody will help you. Because we can kick you in the balls and you can\u2019t kick back. Because you are\u00a0not free<\/em>\u201d (Le Guin 38).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image via <\/em>PrisonExp.org\ufeff<\/em><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u200bThe Stanford Prison Experiment made waves that rippled through the field of psychology and the results elicited a loud call for prison reform. But this call has fallen on deaf ears as incarceration rates throughout the United States have doubled since the 1971 experiment (Zimbardo). Le Guin further chastises the traditional prison system in the United States by including the prison scene in the context of a utopian world. The violation of basic human rights, the lack of control and freedom over one\u2019s own body, and the arbitrary law and order enforced by guards seems utterly ridiculous to Shevek after he experiences the prison simulation himself. Even at his young age, Shevek recognizes how wrongly they have treated their prisoner (Le Guin 40). By including this scene in The Dispossessed<\/em>, Le Guin positions the audience to distance themselves from a system that has become a foundational reality of systematic human degradation and pushes readers to further evaluate that while prisoners may not have the same rights as law abiding citizens, they should not have to sacrifice their humanity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

References: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Le Guin, Ursula. The Dispossessed.<\/em> Harper Voyager, 1974. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zimbardo, Phillip. Stanford Prison Experiment<\/em>. School Psychology Network, 1999, https:\/\/www.prisonexp.org\/. Accessed 28 January 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Marlee Jacocks The existence of a prison within a utopian society seems entirely contradictory, yet prisons become a source of fascination for Anarres\u2019 children in Ursula K. Le Guin\u2019s 1974 novel The Dispossessed. The utopian society is portrayed through the eyes of Shevek, a physicist who lives onthe planet Anarres. In a flashback scene, Shevek reveals the details of \u201cthe prison scene\u201d found in Le Guin\u2019s ambiguous utopia. While learning about the history of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[420,1],"tags":[423,498,499,500,501,502,431,503],"class_list":["post-1930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-issue-6-brave-new-worlds-utopias-and-dystopias","category-uncategorized","tag-dystopia","tag-prison","tag-stanford","tag-stanford-prison-experiment","tag-the-dispossessed","tag-ursula-k-le-guin","tag-utopia","tag-zimbardo"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Prison Utopia - The Digital Literature Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/2019\/02\/22\/the-prison-utopia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Prison Utopia - The Digital Literature Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By: Marlee Jacocks The existence of a prison within a utopian society seems entirely contradictory, yet prisons become a source of fascination for Anarres\u2019 children in Ursula K. Le Guin\u2019s 1974 novel The Dispossessed. The utopian society is portrayed through the eyes of Shevek, a physicist who lives onthe planet Anarres. In a flashback scene, Shevek reveals the details of \u201cthe prison scene\u201d found in Le Guin\u2019s ambiguous utopia. While learning about the history of […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/dlr\/2019\/02\/22\/the-prison-utopia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Digital Literature Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-02-22T16:41:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"bsudlr\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"bsudlr\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bsu.edu\\\/dlr\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/22\\\/the-prison-utopia\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bsu.edu\\\/dlr\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/22\\\/the-prison-utopia\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"bsudlr\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bsu.edu\\\/dlr\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5adbaf0f3d68787b57983d1d93d45ecd\"},\"headline\":\"The Prison Utopia\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-02-22T16:41:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bsu.edu\\\/dlr\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/22\\\/the-prison-utopia\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1102,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bsu.edu\\\/dlr\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/22\\\/the-prison-utopia\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bsu.edu\\\/dlr\\\/dlr\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/11\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/Picture1.png\",\"keywords\":[\"dystopia\",\"prison\",\"Stanford\",\"stanford prison experiment\",\"the dispossessed\",\"ursula k. le guin\",\"utopia\",\"Zimbardo\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Issue 6: Brave New Worlds: Utopias and Dystopias\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bsu.edu\\\/dlr\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/22\\\/the-prison-utopia\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bsu.edu\\\/dlr\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/22\\\/the-prison-utopia\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Prison Utopia - 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