Poverty and misery usually run hand-in-hand depending on the individual or the situation. In the case of “the others” and the “Utopians” in Ahmed Khaled Towfik’s Utopia we see misery introduced in different instances. For example, the first narrator and protagonist is a Utopian bored of the everyday activities he constantly exercises. From drugs, sex, partying, and careless behavior to practically living a life of great privilege in a society of great division between the upper class and the lower class. On the other hand we also observe a protagonist from “the others”, who is concerned for the safety of the two Utopians who made their way out of Utopia in search for new experiences without a clue of the dangers they were putting themselves into.
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In this case the lower class protagonist shows more humanity than the Utopians who not only risks his own safety, but also risks himself for people who would not do the same for him. We can see how the second protagonist sees how indifferent the Utopians he is helping out treat him. However he also knows that he has the ability to hand them over, expose them, or jeopardize them if he wanted to. The second narrator seems to have more caution and conscious than the two Utopians do. Ultimately we can observe the binary of these two groups of individuals and worlds that are seperated. There is an obvious seperation that can be seen as a binary in regards to the way people are accutomed to and how they act in the world, or how they treat life around them. Misery ultimately consumes every person affected by the maping of a new structured way of living which takes something from everyone.
Literary Genres in Translation 