This Perfect Day

This Perfect Day is probably Ira Levin's greatest work of his

career. Levin's work, despite being written in 1970, is very

plausible having realistic technology, such as scanners and

computers which watch over the entire family, the entire

population of the world. This novel could be used to show

the dangers of a Utopian society as well as being full of

anti-Communist and anti-racist sentiment. This Perfect Day

also displays the feeling that communist and segregated

institutions can be defeated, as the protagonist Chip over

powers the "family" and their vile Uni Comp as well as rising

above the segregated community he reaches after fleeing the

family.

This work could best be placed in an area of the curriculum

where it is the students job to learn that although everyone

might not be equal, nor should they be, they are still human

and deserve to be treated with the respect and kindness we

would expect to be treated with. This work could be used in

conjunction with other works of literature that display the

same ideals against communism and discrimination as well as

a lack of compassion for others. Other works that could be

used in cohorts with Levin's This Perfect Day, are

Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut and even the

Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. Both of these

novels show the dangers of trying to create a Utopian

society and the chaos it causes. In Harrison Bergeron,

handicapping has become an American institution and it is

the governments responsibility to make sure that everyone is

equal in every way which ends up causing chaos and

rebellion. The Handmaid's Tale shows the dangers of when

an extreme group takes over the United States after a

nuclear holocaust, with women being placed in a submissive

role to men, only being used to reproduce. This Perfect

Day could also be used in a section with novels such as

Uncle Tom's Cabin which portray the evils of racism and

discrimination, just as the land where Chip ends up after