While reading Utopia, I was confused if Utopia the island was actually supposed to be an ideal society. There were some aspects of the society that appeared to be less than ideal to me—such as the slavery aspect for one. More himself seems to have his doubts about such a way of living. At the end of book 2 he writes, “there occurred to me quite a few institutions established by the customs and laws of that nation which seemed to me quite absurd” (134). Rather than accept Raphael’s belief that Utopia is the ideal way to run of society, More questions it, but does not press him any further for information. Additionally, More is also baffled by the fact that there is no exchange of money. He writes, “that one fact entirely undermines all nobility, magnificence, splendor, and majesty, which are…the true adornments and ornaments of a commonwealth” (134). More does not understand how such a society could exist without money as a way to trade items. It makes sense that More would have his doubts about such a different way of living, but it definitely left me wondering if More intended this particular Utopia to actually be ‘ideal’ to Europeans. As a character in his book he definitely has his doubts, but it would be interesting to see what the response to it was. It could be that Europeans took it as purely fiction and would not have thought it was suggesting a new way to live in the recently discovered New World. However, it could be that the discovery of the New World would have opened up room for people to live lives that were different from the way they were used to, and suggesting that there could be a better way.