gulliver's travels
Jonathan Swift's satirical prose, Gulliver's Travels, is the subject ofa wide variety of literary critique and social interpretation. Althoughmany readers, at first glance, take this tale to be simply a fantasticnarrative of a common man and his encounters with unusual locations andpeople through several journeys, further inspection reveals Swift's truepurpose of creativity--satire. Using the contemporary style of the TravelNarrative, Swift is able to insert his own personal criticisms of modern lifeinto the experience of Gulliver. Swift focuses entirely on satirizinghumanity in Book IV of Gulliver's Travels. Gulliver, representing a common man, encounters a wide variety ofcharacters along his travels, each representing a subject Swift wishes tocriticize. His satire ranges from relatively simple political criticism in hisexperiences in Book I and II to a socio-political criticism in Book III, to
Gulliver's transitionfrom a "lover of mankind" to misanthropy comes as a result of arealization that man is not as he considers himself, but rather more"compatible, indeed, only with a formula, infinitely more humiliating tohuman pride, which pushes man nearly if not quite over to the oppositepole of the animal world"(IV, 403). Gulliver sees the Yahoos not as beasts far-removed from theEuropean man, but rather that the European man is merely a "morecivilized variety of Yahoo"(IV, 244) who is subject to an "irrationaldisposition which motivates his habitual behavior"(IV, 404). ------------------------------------------------------------------------**Bibliography**online. It is obvious, however, that Book IV criticizes the nature of manas a rational being. The Yahoobrutes that inhabit Houyhnhnmland are a despicable species that have thephysical appearance of humans. Swift is not only able to satirize on political matters of his time, buton the nature of man and many preconceived notions still existent today. His opinion of the Yahoos contrasts withhis opinion of the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver is able to discard his preconceivednotion of man as superior being for a more cynical outlook afterinteracting with the inhabitants of Houyhnhnmland. philosophical criticism of man in Book IV. "I expressed my Uneasiness at his giving me so often theAppellation of Yahoo, an odious Animal, for which I so utter an Hatredand Contempt" (IV, 205). "Upon the whole, I never beheld in all my Travels sodisagreeable an Animal, or one against which I naturally conceived sostrong an Antipathy" (IV,193). Slurping up all the wine insight, he quickly made water in a bucket that sat near the door"(IV, 156). He goes into a room in which a scientist istrying to turn wine into water. The Houyhnhnms seem to embody virtue and all the perfections thathumans seek, but there are inconsistencies in their behavior that arereflective human faults. A final indication that the Houyhnmns are an attack on humanity isshown when the leader of the Houyhnhnms visits Lilliput where he visitsthe French Royal Society.
Common topics in this essay:
European European,
Book IV,
Gulliver's Travels,
Royal Society,
Houyhnhnms Yahoos,
Houyhnhnmland Gulliver's,
Travels Gulliver,
Contempt IV,
Gulliver Yahoo,
Narrative Swift,
book iv,
gulliver's travels,
swift able,
criticism book,
wide variety,
attack humanity,
iv gulliver's travels,
book iv gulliver's,
common encounters,
iv gulliver's,
|
Acceptance Essays
