Looking Backward

Content Warning: The novel harbors offensive ideas about gender and race. It uses dated language to describe people of color and assumes bio-essential differences between men and women in its description of a utopian society. It describes a utopian society in which men hold all major leadership positions, reinforcing a patriarchal view of society. It also suggests that women are romantically interchangeable. It presents a utopian society that has a specific religious leaning and does not favor religious pluralism. It advocates for a utopian society that is patriarchal, misogynistic, trans-exclusive, racist, ableist, imperialistic, heteronormative and implicitly anti-gay, and classist. The novel advocates for a brand of nationalism. It contains references to death by suicide. 

The novel opens with a direct address to the reader. Julian West introduces himself as a young man born in 1857 and living in the year 2000, and the reader is presumed to be living in the year 2000, too. West explains he grew up in a time when people could be born wealthy, become educated, and not offer anything in return to society. He lived “on the income of his investments” while others suffered (6). West uses an analogy to describe what life was like in the 1880s.