Gulliver's Travels.

Gulliver’s  Travels

                  - Jonathan Swift

                Jonathan Swift is one of the strangest figures in English literature. The facts of his life can be recorded line  after line yet they reveal little about the man.

“What does seem to be important is what lies between the lines.”

He was indeed an “Angry Young Man”. He was sharp, biting satirist. In Gulliver’s Travels , he uses Gulliver’s simplicity to present an irony in the panegyric with the help of the king of the giants, but  Gulliver doesn’t.

“ Man is an animal capable of reasoning, but he is not a fully rational animal.”

         Swift attacks pomposity and hypocrisy dishonesty and cruelty in positions of high authority as well as in ordinary men.

                   We find four different kinds of voyages and through the imaginative worlds Swift describes the reality of the world.

          At the starting of the novel , Swift himself uses the word  Inform. Use of the word itself  shows so many things. 

  

1.             Voyage to Lilliput :

Gulliver is giant and Lilliputians are tiny that seems ridiculous. We find conflict between two political parties for the issue of  cutting egg.

“ At Which end should the faithful break their eggs ? at the big end  ? or at the little end ?”

              The questions of whether to break eggs at the big end or at the little end is very important.  It is a moral and political issue there. The political life of Lilliput t reflects the political life of England.

     It seem vain of political parties there. Politicians  are always along side Gulliver. The inhabitants of this realm are as much bigger than normal men as normal men are  bigger than politicians.

2.             Voyage to Brobdingnag : 

“ The more I know less people trust me !

Now Gulliver is small and Brobdingnagian are giant. Gulliver is treated as rare pet not as man. Gulliver shows us instances of their moral virtues but at the same time , he never lets us forget that they are also aliens for him.  Brobdingnagian are not perfect but they are consistently moral.

“ Trust me I am human being.”

Inhabitants never believe to Gulliver’s talking about  the  “ tiny people”  who are met in Lilliput . if you see the day then and then one can understand the importance of the night. There he faces the problem of  “Identity crisis”.

I think now Gulliver understand the importance of being giant or  authorized one. Because here he feels that it is dangerous to be so small and also disgusting.

     Brobdingnagian can’t understand abstract reasoning or  ideas. Life on a Brobdingnag seems to be constant humiliation  for Gulliver.

Example:

“ Gulliver is a Toy not a man , so they undress in front of him without a thought of modesty.”

One or another way , we all face this situations in our life. In voyage 1 , we stood tall  like Gulliver and watched the Lilliputians as Mimic human , pestering and Vanities. Now we stand small like Gulliver and listen  to a moral giant discredit human pride and pretense.       

    

Size : 

              In both voyage , we find the difference into size.  And because of size Lilliputians fell inferiority in front of   Gulliver . The same situation is faced by Gulliver in front of Brobdignangs. Here , we seem that  Size is connectd with power and position and also  intellectuality and physical power or strength, too.       

3.              Voyage to Laputa , Balnibarbi :       

         

                                                            

People of  Laputa are speculative and rationalistic philosopher s.   In this voyage we find satire on Science and technology with reasoning.  All intellectual persons are waste their time doing unnecessary things.  Philosophers and professors both type of men are deficient because they lack humanistic values 

.   

We find lack of gravitational force means there is no any stable government. People do work only when they are awaken  by others. So ,there is deformed culture and deformed human beings. Floating island represents the distance between the government and public. people are different from the two voyages means normal size but all are abnormal with mentality. They show power through the technology. With so many fields like different professions all are vain because there is only futile attempts to   educate and cultivate people.

 All projects fails- through this Swift exposes them as pointless and useless.

“ Homer is more handsome than Aristotle .”    

Swift has attacked rationalistic and abstract thinking in Laputa and pragmatic and a moral scientific thinking in Balnibarbi. We find satire on humanities and philosophy, and he turns to the historians. Man simply can’t depend on abstract , impersonal, inhuman reason. Nor can depend on technological innovation , on history or on the “Modern”  human studies. Man’s best guides are poetry and ancient philosophy.

4.            Houyhnms Voyage : 
                                                                

                   Gulliver wanders in island and discovers many kind of tracks , human and animal. Yahoos seem familiar , but who or what they are is obscure.   The contrast between the Houyhnmns and the  Yahoos is extreme.      

     

The idea of a Yahoo controlling a country is absurd. Yahoos are dirty and lascivious , lewd and coquettish. Animals are rational and cultured.

“ The pig , Gulliver says , is sweeter  than a Yahoos.”

The Houyhnmns base their society on their rational , passionless and innocent nature. They are a breed of moral animal , different from the Yahoos or Europeans. They have no literature , but do compose poetry which is moral and accurate. Where as Yahoos are unnatural beasts and argue  that they are hated by every other animal. Greed and selfishness is in human nature.

 Swift who was saying that all mankind was worthless ; it was Gulliver who thought so. So, Swift sets up the antithetical worlds of the Yahoos and the Houyhnhnm to shock, not to define. Houyhnms have life of community. They don’t live personal life. Houyhnhnm are never try to reform yahoos.          

At the end , through the long journey Gulliver gets nothing. Means he fails . he just find the serious issues of the society  in which we all live with great proud and glad.  In each field, there is problem  like….. politicians , religious leaders , social planners , tacticians and educators and so many others….

Through these , Gulliver just inform us not reform because it is so difficult to change everything. Because who have power they rule over others and common people have to force to mum. In each voyage we find the conflict between idealism v/s realism. Being a common man Gulliver’s voice is controlled .  Though the imaginative world or journey he describe the reality of the society. 

He doesn’t give the solution of the problem but he informs us to look towards such serious issues which exists in our society and then even we are going to live life with glad and some time also have proud to live such life!  How disgusting ?  we never pay attention towards such kinds of problems which is existed around us.