“Walden Two” is a utopian novel published shortly after the end of the Second World War, in 1948. The main characters in the novel are two former soldiers who fought in the war and who, after returning back home, feel as if they no longer have a purpose in life. The two veteran contact a university professor who in turn connects them with the founder of a community named Walden Two.
The two men, accompanied by their girlfriends and another university professor then go to visit the community to see if it would be suitable for them and for they were searching for. From the point when the characters meet with Frazier, the founder of the community, the novel becomes a novel of ideas, the main purpose of the narrator being discussing the general ideas accepted in the community and no longer focusing on the action.
Frazier introduces a couple of revolutionary ideas in the community, some economic, social or psychological. For example, Frazier advocates for equality between men and women, something which was yet to be achieved in the United States and in most countries in fact. Frazier believed women should have the freedom to work, to choose if they want to have children or not and to have as many sexual partners as they wanted.
Walden Two is different from the rest of the countries in the world because it is not stiff when it comes to politics. Instead, as Frazier points out, the way Walden Two is run changes depending on weather a strategy was efficient or not. The members of the community are free to choose their career path and change it as often as they want and they are also required to work only four hours per day.
The way in which Walden Two is operated is based on Communist ideas at its core. For example, people do not work for money since they do not need it to survive. Instead, food and every other necessities are provided by the community to every member depending on their needs. This means every member is equal and every person has the same amount of food and belongings when compared with the rest of the members. Individuality is something which does not exist as Walden Two and no one receives credit for their personal achievements. Instead, the community is praised as producing members capable of achieving such things.
Another similarity between Walden Two and Communist can be seen when it comes to the way children are raised. Family units are discouraged in Walden and children are seen, just like anything else, as belonging to the community. Children are raised apart from their families and everyone gets involved in their education. The community also shaped the children to behavioral engineering to act in a way which is seen desirable and acceptable. This raises the question of the existence of free will since the children are all indoctrinated from a small age to believe certain ideas while rejecting others.
While the community is presented as being the epitome of freedom, some see it as a totalitarian community where free will and possibility of choosing for oneself disappeared completely. Because of this controversy, from the group of five people, only two decide to remain at Walden while the others return home.
