The Garden
While it is only mentioned briefly at the beginning of the book, the garden to which More and his interlocutors retreat is a significant image for the context of Utopia. Gardens – with their privacy, greenery, flowers, and other natural abundance – were traditionally used as settings for philosophical discourse, and More's decision to place his characters in a garden is no coincidence. The intimate but flourishing space mirrors the thoughtful and elucidating philosophical discussion that will follow.
Ceremony
Hythloday provides a great deal of detail when it comes to describing the ceremonies, rituals, and general behavior of the Utopian people. This would later become a common motif in utopian literature, where a traveler describes important experiences with foreign ceremony to their interlocutor as a way of communicating the values and culture of civilization they encountered.
Animals
Animal imagery is often employed as a means of comparison. Hythloday has a generally dissatisfied approach to European society, and as such he often compares European citizens to animals – either vicious ones who are taking advantage of others, or innocent laborers who are taken advantage of. The animal imagery in the text serves to remind readers that humanity is, at its core, an animal species.
Destruction
Because of his criticism of European society, Hythloday often employs dramatic descriptions of destruction, death, and decay when discussing the merits of Utopia compared to Europe. This is especially prevalent when he discusses the sin of pride. Hythloday compares pride to a serpent that strangles and suffocates men, preventing them from living a better life. This imagery helps align pride with Satan and Hell, and Hythloday implicitly associates European society with these unsavory tropes.
