This novel begins in Drop City Ranch, a hippie commune in Sonoma, California. Its founder, Norm Sender, is much older than most of the people whom the commune attracts. Ideally, the commune is supposed to provide a space for individuals to connect to their inner selves and to the outer world in whatever ways are most meaningful to them. Ideally, the contributions of the members of the commune are supposed to complement each other so that everything that needs to be done does get done, without any individual being given specifically defined responsibilities. In reality, self-exploration very often becomes an excuse for self-indulgence, and instead of generating a nonconformist vision of what society might ideally become, the commune members fall back onto selective, stereotypical views to…
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Citation: Kich, Martin. "Drop City". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 June 2024 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=12500, accessed 25 November 2024.]