Term Paper On Gulliver — страница 2

  • Просмотров 266
  • Скачиваний 5
  • Размер файла 17
    Кб

represents the selfishness of man. Gulliver is constantly displayed in public, abused for the profit of the owner. When his owner finds out that Gulliver is weakening, he sells him immediately, at a high price in order to milk every last penny out of Gulliver. Gulliver’s third voyage, to the floating island of Laputa is one of the most satirical of the whole book. In this voyage Swift criticizes the Royal Society of England, in which he says is composed of useless philosophers, inventors, and scientists. The floating island signifies that the inhabitants are composed of the same airy constitution as the environment (Long 276). Projects done by such people are summed up by “the Universal Artist,” who directs his followers to turn useful things into the exact opposite, which

results in useless achievements. Some of the experiments held were to create tangible air, wool-less sheep, and horses with stone hooves. The flying island itself expresses not only the desertion on the common earth of reality but their conversion of the universe to a mechanism and of living to a mechanical process (Bloom, Interpretations 53). Finally, Gulliver travels to the land of the Houyhnhnms. After he reaches land, Gulliver comes across a pack of Yahoos and is instantly appalled by them. There he quotes, “Upon the whole, I never beheld in all my travels so disagreeable and animal, or one against which I naturally conceived so strong an antipathy” (Swift, Text 215). This statement is at best ironic, because Gulliver never saw the resemblances between the Yahoos, and

himself. Afterwards, he encounters the rational Houyhnhnms and he immediately realizes the common characteristics he has in common with the Yahoos. He states, “my horror and astonishment are not to be described, when I observed, in this abdominal animal, a perfect human figure” (Swift, Text 220). Gulliver is amazed to see rational figures acting in such brutal figures, but he later realizes that they regarded him as the brutal beast. The Houyhnhnms compare Gulliver and the Yahoos and find many similarities between the two. The only difference was that Gulliver, and mankind, had learned the benefits of clothing, and he, at times could be a rational creature. Swift portrays the Yahoos as savage animals with human characteristics, which is the biggest mockery of mankind in the

whole book. The Yahoos were so greedy, that they would fight over enough food to feed an entire army of fifty soldiers, just to keep it to themselves. They would poison their own bodies, by sucking a root, similar to alcohol, to reach a high. The female population of the Yahoos are also given characteristics of the ladies of the royal stature. Their gestures of hiding behind bushes and trees, looking at the passing by males, gives the impression of a woman hiding her face behind a fan, while looking flirtatiously over her shoulder. The smell associated with the female Yahoos, is similar to the perfume ladies wear to attract men (Brady 108). By the time Gulliver is returned to England, he becomes a complete antisocial, who is disgusted by the sight of his own wife and children.

Gulliver’s desire to become a Houyhnhnm gives the reader the impression that he is a pathetic man, who strives to become someone he can never be. Through Gulliver, Jonathan Swift travels to four different foreign countries, each representing a corrupt part of England. Swift criticizes the corruption of these parts, and focuses on the government, society, science, religion, and man. Not only does swift criticize the customs of each country, he mocks the naive man who has the inability to figure out the double meaning of things. Gulliver, being gullible himself, believes everything he is told, which symbolizes the irony of the English system. Harold, Bloom, ed. Modern Critical Views, Jonathan Swift. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. Brady, Frank, ed. Twentieth Century

Interpretation of Gulliver’s Travels. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1968. Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver’s Travels, and other Writings. New York: Bantam Books, Inc., 1962. Harold, Bloom, ed. Modern Critical Interpretations of Gulliver’s Travels. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. Long, William J. “Jonathan Swift,” English Literature. Boston, Mass.: Ginn and Company, 1964. Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver’s Travels, An Annotated Text with Critical Essays. United States: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1961.