the uniform ideals proposed by the society and, in an atmosphere of cultural phobia, are victimised as scapegoats. Luciente makes very clear what will happen to those who exer-cise a form of power against the society by not showing up at the township meetings. In that case, as Luciente relates, “Friends might suggest you take a retreat [. . .] If too many in a village cut off, the neighbouring villages will send for a team of investigators” (p. 154). A similar form of social ostracism happens when people do not conform to the work ethos of Mattapoisett, as such people are asked to leave (p. 101). The reader realises that non-conformity in Mattapoisett results in exclusion. Similarly, those who resort to violence are also excluded and not given much space for improvement. In an open stigmatisation, the offenders are marked with a tattoo on the back of their hands to indicate the danger they pose to the community (p.272). Urged to sit apart in guest houses, these offenders are clearly defined as the ‘downs’ of the society. Thus, the people of Mattapoisett correspond to what the cultural historian René Girard (cf. 1986) has termed the ‘Generative Scapegoat Mechanism’, which emphasises the inherent need to scapegoat in order to maintain prevalent power constellations. In his book The Scapegoat, Girard claims that human societies are founded on mechanisms of sacri-fice, which provide a community with its sense of collective identity and preserve its cultural values. Usually concealed from human consciousness, sacrifice is initiated by scapegoating and stigmatising the supposedly ‘other’, the ‘different’, in an attempt to prevent a ‘mimetic crisis’, a breakdown of all distinctions of representation. Margaret Atwood (1982: 275) underlines that the fear of this mimetic crisis is not only a frequent structural element within utopian societies, but is also liable to affect the reader, since all utopias suffer from the readers’ secret conviction that a perfect world would be dull. Such readers, however, need not worry about Woman on the Edge of Time, for Piercy’s ecofemi-nist utopia is far from being perfect. The accumulation of social exclusions culminates if drifters relapse into crime: then the society of Mattapoisett conveniently executes them in an exercise of power over power which seriously undermines the status of Mattapoisett as a paradise. Luciente explains: “Second time someone uses violence, we give up. We don’t want to watch each other or to imprison each other. We aren’t willing to live with people who choose to use violence. We execute them” (p. 209). The harsh treatment of those who do not want to serve the ecofemi-nist ideals brings to the fore that equality is not always a positive quality if it is achieved by suppressing or even excluding individuality and imposing an oppressive conformity which makes all differences disappear. At the same time, the phenomenon of the ‘drifters’ clearly proves that the biological eradication of difference is no blueprint for happiness and social equality. On the contrary, the disappearance of difference causes, in an illustration of Girardian theory, a mimetic crisis in Connie. Connie realises that the idyll of the place and the alleged perfection can also be, from another point of view, dystopian:

DOI link for the uniform ideals proposed by the society and, in an atmosphere of cultural phobia, are victimised as scapegoats. Luciente makes very clear what will happen to those who exer-cise a form of power against the society by not showing up at the township meetings. In that case, as Luciente relates, “Friends might suggest you take a retreat [. . .] If too many in a village cut off, the neighbouring villages will send for a team of investigators” (p. 154). A similar form of social ostracism happens when people do not conform to the work ethos of Mattapoisett, as such people are asked to leave (p. 101). The reader realises that non-conformity in Mattapoisett results in exclusion. Similarly, those who resort to violence are also excluded and not given much space for improvement. In an open stigmatisation, the offenders are marked with a tattoo on the back of their hands to indicate the danger they pose to the community (p.272). Urged to sit apart in guest houses, these offenders are clearly defined as the ‘downs’ of the society. Thus, the people of Mattapoisett correspond to what the cultural historian René Girard (cf. 1986) has termed the ‘Generative Scapegoat Mechanism’, which emphasises the inherent need to scapegoat in order to maintain prevalent power constellations. In his book The Scapegoat, Girard claims that human societies are founded on mechanisms of sacri-fice, which provide a community with its sense of collective identity and preserve its cultural values. Usually concealed from human consciousness, sacrifice is initiated by scapegoating and stigmatising the supposedly ‘other’, the ‘different’, in an attempt to prevent a ‘mimetic crisis’, a breakdown of all distinctions of representation. Margaret Atwood (1982: 275) underlines that the fear of this mimetic crisis is not only a frequent structural element within utopian societies, but is also liable to affect the reader, since all utopias suffer from the readers’ secret conviction that a perfect world would be dull. Such readers, however, need not worry about Woman on the Edge of Time, for Piercy’s ecofemi-nist utopia is far from being perfect. The accumulation of social exclusions culminates if drifters relapse into crime: then the society of Mattapoisett conveniently executes them in an exercise of power over power which seriously undermines the status of Mattapoisett as a paradise. Luciente explains: “Second time someone uses violence, we give up. We don’t want to watch each other or to imprison each other. We aren’t willing to live with people who choose to use violence. We execute them” (p. 209). The harsh treatment of those who do not want to serve the ecofemi-nist ideals brings to the fore that equality is not always a positive quality if it is achieved by suppressing or even excluding individuality and imposing an oppressive conformity which makes all differences disappear. At the same time, the phenomenon of the ‘drifters’ clearly proves that the biological eradication of difference is no blueprint for happiness and social equality. On the contrary, the disappearance of difference causes, in an illustration of Girardian theory, a mimetic crisis in Connie. Connie realises that the idyll of the place and the alleged perfection can also be, from another point of view, dystopian:

the uniform ideals proposed by the society and, in an atmosphere of cultural phobia, are victimised as scapegoats. Luciente makes very clear what will happen to those who exer-cise a form of power against the society by not showing up at the township meetings. In that case, as Luciente relates, “Friends might suggest you take a retreat [. . .] If too many in a village cut off, the neighbouring villages will send for a team of investigators” (p. 154). A similar form of social ostracism happens when people do not conform to the work ethos of Mattapoisett, as such people are asked to leave (p. 101). The reader realises that non-conformity in Mattapoisett results in exclusion. Similarly, those who resort to violence are also excluded and not given much space for improvement. In an open stigmatisation, the offenders are marked with a tattoo on the back of their hands to indicate the danger they pose to the community (p.272). Urged to sit apart in guest houses, these offenders are clearly defined as the ‘downs’ of the society. Thus, the people of Mattapoisett correspond to what the cultural historian René Girard (cf. 1986) has termed the ‘Generative Scapegoat Mechanism’, which emphasises the inherent need to scapegoat in order to maintain prevalent power constellations. In his book The Scapegoat, Girard claims that human societies are founded on mechanisms of sacri-fice, which provide a community with its sense of collective identity and preserve its cultural values. Usually concealed from human consciousness, sacrifice is initiated by scapegoating and stigmatising the supposedly ‘other’, the ‘different’, in an attempt to prevent a ‘mimetic crisis’, a breakdown of all distinctions of representation. Margaret Atwood (1982: 275) underlines that the fear of this mimetic crisis is not only a frequent structural element within utopian societies, but is also liable to affect the reader, since all utopias suffer from the readers’ secret conviction that a perfect world would be dull. Such readers, however, need not worry about Woman on the Edge of Time, for Piercy’s ecofemi-nist utopia is far from being perfect. The accumulation of social exclusions culminates if drifters relapse into crime: then the society of Mattapoisett conveniently executes them in an exercise of power over power which seriously undermines the status of Mattapoisett as a paradise. Luciente explains: “Second time someone uses violence, we give up. We don’t want to watch each other or to imprison each other. We aren’t willing to live with people who choose to use violence. We execute them” (p. 209). The harsh treatment of those who do not want to serve the ecofemi-nist ideals brings to the fore that equality is not always a positive quality if it is achieved by suppressing or even excluding individuality and imposing an oppressive conformity which makes all differences disappear. At the same time, the phenomenon of the ‘drifters’ clearly proves that the biological eradication of difference is no blueprint for happiness and social equality. On the contrary, the disappearance of difference causes, in an illustration of Girardian theory, a mimetic crisis in Connie. Connie realises that the idyll of the place and the alleged perfection can also be, from another point of view, dystopian: