Editor's Choice
What are the principles of the Blithedale community in The Blithedale Romance?
Quick answer:
The Blithedale romance is a critique of the utopian experiments of the nineteenth century. It critiques what people were trying to achieve and how they tried to achieve it. The novel shows Hawthorne's skepticism towards the idea that utopia could be achieved by good will alone. His characters often fail because they do not understand basic human nature, and they do not want to face reality as it is.In general, the purpose of the Blithedale community was in line with many utopian communes of the nineteenth century. People joined together in a working community in an attempt to prove that a perfect—or at least, nearly-perfect—way of life could be achieved: a life that the current society didn't offer. The utopian society is based on Hawthorne's own experience at Brook Farm, one such historical community.
In chapter 3, Coverdale, the narrator, delineates some of the idealism that brought the group together. They had determined to do away with pride in favor of love. They would abandon all their private possessions and personal aspirations in order to band together with other community members to improve the world. They wanted to show the world a better way to live.
They didn't want to use force to get the wealth of others for themselves, either by taking it from someone stronger or...
Unlock
This Answer NowStart your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
by oppressing someone weaker. They wanted to work with their own hands, putting their own physical labor into creating their sustenance. As they did so, they would not be motivated by competition with others but instead would show how cooperation was superior.
Summarizing the idealistic fervor that drove them, Coverdale notes that they considered their efforts a means of "the advancement of our race." They were going to show that people could do better and be better through cooperative endeavor. Even at this early point in the novel, Coverdale hints that the experiment was not successful. Yet he doesn't regret the naive optimism that bred the plan:
In my own behalf I rejoice that I could once think better of the world's improvability than it deserved.
Blithedale as a community is an experiment in socialism. Its supporters are seeking "a better life", and hope through their endeavors to achieve "the reformation of the world", changing its "destiny". In a spirit of cooperation, they plan to learn "the art of husbandry", so that, with each individual doing his or her share, they might live off the land, establishing a system better than "the society that shackled (them)" (Chapter 2).
The experiment is being undertaken to break "through many hindrances that are powerful enough to keep most people on the weary tread-mill of the established system". The participants resolve to step "down from the pulpit...(fling) aside the pen...shut up the ledger...(throw)...off indolence", for the express purpose of "showing mankind the example of a life governed by other than the false and cruel principles, on which human society has all along been based". They determine to "divorce (them)selves from Pride...to supply its place with familiar love...to lessen the laboring man's great burthen of toil, by performing (their) due share of it...to profit by mutual aid, instead of wresting it by the strong hand from an enemy, or filching it craftily from those less shrewd than (them)selves...or winning it by selfish competition with a neighbor". Instead, they will each selflessly "offer up the earnest toil of (their) bodies...for the advancement of (their) race" (Chapter 3).