Sheep Hater

          For a work of fiction, Moore seems greatly concerned that it be factual in nature. It seems strange to me though since Utopia doesn't really exist why he needs to add information such as where it exists on a map to the story. I'm also a bit confused on why the theologian says he wants to go to Utopia. Does he not know that it isn't real? 

          I find it interesting how when talking about Raphael's travels, he mentions how Raphael didn't talk about the mundane things that were everyday occurrences but how he talked about "...well and wisely trained citizens..." who were "...not to be found everywhere." The use of the word trained makes it sound to me that Moore thinks citizens and civilization should be robotic, like a well oiled machine. This is concerning to me because people are not robots and never will be. Is this the kind of society he envisions for Utopia? 

          When Raphael was discussing England's problem with thieves, he brings up a couple of interesting points. One is that due to sheep farming, people are being run off of their land and have no choice but to beg, as their services as farmers aren't needed once they are off the farmland and have no other skills to offer. It seems to me that Raphael has a real problem with capitalism in the sense of the big guy squashing the little guy. I don't know if this means he believes in a society similar to socialism. Another point he brings up is that since all of the land is being taken over for pasture, whole towns are destroyed, "...leaving only a church for a barn." I see this as Raphael finds it important to have spaces within towns for citizens to better themselves such as a library or a park. I find it interesting that he starts off the passage not by attacking the sheep farmers but by saying how terrible the sheep themselves are, those greedy little man eaters. What does he have against sheep?

How Raphael imagines the sheep.