Foucault: "Panopticism"

          Foucault starts of "Panopticism"  by describing this town that has become full of disease under a quarantine. People are trapped inside their house, and if the leave it then they will be killed. Only the guards and officials are aloud to walk around, checking who has died and who is still alive. The people are watched like a hulk, having guards at the end of each street to make sure no one goes anywhere. He says that "the plague is met with order" meaning that first the chaos of the plague will bring purification throughout the town, and second it will result in a disciplined society. Foucault goes on to explain his utopia of the perfectly governed city. Jeremy Bentham creates the plan of the Panopticon, which is "a distinct power that bears in distinct way over over all individual bodies". Essentially it is the idea that of measuring, supervising, isolating, and correcting the individual. This idea says that one will be watched all the time, never being in communication with anyone. Furthermore, the inmate never knows exactly when he is being watched, so he must assume that he is always being watched . The benefits to Panopticon would be that there would be no more bars, chains, heavy locks, or physical punishment.

          This reading connects with an earlier unit, Unit 3, Colonial Literature. They relate in the way they want to build a community by purifying it. When the early Plymouth settlers came and settled, they first thing they had to do was build a wall, and establish what is and is not included in their settlement. They built of their "city on a hill" and completely disregarded/despised what was not in the community. This includes nature, and the Indians who were seen as evil. However the main thing that they believed was to purify the community from all of the outside evils. Furthermore, they both focus on purifying and resulting in a 'utopia'/'city on a hill' society.

Question: How would this ever work?