UTOPIA AND PRACTICALITY.

UTOPIA AND PRACTICALITY. Emerson’s involvement with Bronson Alcott showed that he knew the difference between Utopian ideals and the practical world. This wikipedia article describes how Alcott was involved in creating “Fruitlands, a community based on Utopian ideals inspired in part by Transcendentalism…. The farm would run based on a communal effort, using no animals for labor, and its participants would eat no meat and use no wool or leather.” Emerson expressed sympathy for the project, but believed that it would fail. He wrote: “Their whole doctrine is spiritual but they always end with saying, Give us much land and money”. After the failure of the project, Emerson provided some financial assistance to the Alcott family.