Mark Roth

Ms. Romano

Blog #2

May 11th, 2015

Incentives of Paradise

People have dedicated lifetimes seeking earthly paradises, yet in James Hilton’s Shangri-La, four characters are kidnapped to a serene lamasery hidden in the Tibetan mountains.  Hugh Conway, Charles Mallinson, Henry Barnard, and Roberta Brinklow are forever linked when an evacuation flight from Baskul turns off course.  However, Hilton presents an intriguing complex as his characters initially resist their new surroundings.  Hilton illuminates the irony behind an unwanted paradise, but also ridicules the concept of paradise as well.  Many of the questions that the characters ask refuse to be answered and there is a general haze of confusion surrounding the majority of the events occurring within Shangri-La.  Without further delay, in the following expository essay I explore the components of a paradise and why it is impossible to attain today.

Paradise.  Upon hearing that word, putting aside the mythological communities of eternal happiness such as Shangri-La, Atlantis, and the Islands of the Blessed, each person imagines a different society.  Although complete happiness is the shared, overarching goal, the concept of happiness varies greatly.  For some in modern society, good health and opportunity achieves the same gratification as fame and wealth.  Therefore, the first obstacle in creating an utopian society is a like-minded population.  This leads to the second obstacle as well.  There is a fine line between paradise and a community of contented people.  Shangri-La represents the latter as each member of society thinks in moderation.  Modern vocabulary has presented ‘paradise’ as an unreachable goal where everyone is happy because they get everything they want--without having to work for it.  The inhabitants of Shangri-La practice a very strict social code that forces them to act similarly and they achieve happiness through appreciation of moderation.  

Another issue in the attainment of paradise is presented in Lost Horizon.  As Hugh Conway ventures onto the balcony for a moment of reflection, he feels the eyes of his ‘guides’ on his back.  He realizes that there is only an ‘apparent’ freedom.  This reveals the minimal amount of freedom that Shangri-La’s inhabitants have as well.  Although they are content, there are apparently no issues ever; and if there is one it is handled as follows; QUOTE FROM (115).  America was built on the freedom to pursue happiness and in created paradises such as Shangri-La, there is no opportunity to pursue happiness; there is only contentedness.  This is true not only for created communities, but can also be applied to Karl Marx’s beliefs on the perfect society; socialism.  Incentives seem to drive much of the innovation in American society, but in Shangri-La and socialism, incentives are nearly all but removed.  Can a society survive without some type of motivating force to propel it forward?  Is it human nature to work hard or are incentives required?