"Take the selfishness out of this world and there would be more happiness than we should know what to do with," H. W. Shaw. As one goes through life, they will see that in this world there are many self-driven and uncaring individuals and not enough people who share and care about others. Like H. W. Shaw, Edward Bellamy, a writer of the nineteenth century, believes that people should strive for the common good rather that individual profit. In his novel, Looking Backward, Bellamy expresses his ideas about his social reform and tries to connect with the newly industrialized people of the nineteenth century. In order for Bellamy's utopia to exist, he stresses the idea of a publically owned capital, which will eventually end all suffering and remove the gap between rich and poor which would eventually strengthen the economy. Bellamy, is one of few who try to make the United States a better place to live, and in order to do this, the welfare of the common people must be met and individual gains must be suppressed. .
One of the main themes in this novel is the idea that everyone should equally share the labor. Bellamy expresses this idea by writing about an industrial army. This is the work force that creates all of the nation's goods and products. All citizens, including females, are educated and have the chance to figure out what they want to spend the rest of their life doing. When they reach the age of twenty-one, they choose an occupation that they want. Everyone is paid exactly the same amount. Up until they are thirty, they can apply for professional schools. Later in life, if they want to change careers, they are able to do so. Everyone obeyed by these laws because if you did not, the only other option was to starve. "The worker is not a citizen because he works, but works because he is a citizen"(Bellamy p. 37). This quote from the novel reveals the sense of loyalty that citizens have to the army and to the nation.