A Mirror of the Time-Gulliver’s Travels
-An analysis of Chapter VI, Part Four
When Jonathan Swift was writing Gulliver’s Travels, the South Sea Bubble happened in 1770. George, the king of the England became the governor of the South Sea Company in 1718. People were so confident of his governor and the company which actually had no financial support that they bought its shares with all their money. With the shares price collapsing, the society was in a mess. The following economy crisis and credit crisis even worsen the situation. It became the time of money and everything works around money. The author now was banished to edge of the country, Dublin, after he racked his brain to work for the British royal family or the politicians to get a good position as reward. The banishment helped Jonathan Swift see the deeper consequence of the South Sea Bubble-the suffering of the oppressed and help him finish the great work-Gulliver’s Travels while this work is mirror of the time to some degree.
Writers’ using travelling stories is common means to comment on their own country. The social evils attacked in Chapter VI also can be seen in the reality. Gulliver’s definition of money is Swift’s doubt of humanity and the critics of the current situation. Everyone is greedy, ugly and can do everything to get money, begging, robbing, stealing, cheating, etc. They are occupations that are popular in 18th in England because of the bubbles. No one can escape except a very small number of rich men or powerful men who enjoy the poor man’s labor and squeeze them.
Another social evil is man’s luxury and intemperance and woman’s vanity. People swap necessary things for the evil thing, disease, folly and vice, to satisfy the man and the woman. The imported wine make the apathetic people feel even number. The rich waste their money and resources while the poor suffer from their life and poverty.
The social evils swift attacks are the reflection of the time. Meanwhile, the professions he mentions also have the distinct characteristics of era. The first profession he attacks is lawyer. This profession is supposed to be with justice, but in the novel He personifies the worship of money and avarice. His injustice will bring him a lot of money which is his ultimate aim. Then the doctor, getting his livelihood by attending the sick, actually is cruel and is the one killing people. His special position can help the rich that is able to pay him a lot of money to get rid of someone. The third is chief minister. He has no emotions but the desire of money, power and titles. To preserve their power or get benefits, these ministers bribe and flatter their superior, which reveals the truth. In reality, the Whigs and the Tories get profits in the bubbles by speculating and bribing. The politics is full of corruption and treacherousness. What’s more, both in the book and in fact, their pages, lackeys, and porter bully commoners on the strength of their masters’ powerful position. The last profession he attacks is aristocracy who is a composition of spleen, dullness, ignorance, caprice, sensuality, and pride. The irony is that this kind of people decides our law and property. These people of different profession work just like what Swift
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describe in real life. Every profession is a tool to exploit the people, including those related to public service, like law, medicine and religion.
Swift criticize the society in a more direct way compared with the last two parts. In the last 2 part, Gulliver is just a viewer. The critics about his country is said by others instead of himself, even some can’t be understood by him. But in this chapter, Gulliver becomes eloquent under the effect of his master Houyhnhnms. When he talks about the lawyer, injuring their fellow-animals for a ‘hire’, or talk about minister on how to get the position by three ways, he is quite outspoken in his criticism. Moreover, different from the former parts where he tries to be rational and reasonable by counting the size and proportion of things around him, just like when he advises to eat babies to solve the problem of poverty and starvation, here the author just show us the absurd and disgusting scene that stimulate the readers’ emotions with overburdened stress. Through Gulliver, the author describes how the doctor makes the medicine and how he put it into the patients in details. He uses numbers in the beginning to convince people while he just presents the description, not considering whether the readers can accept or not. He also satirizes the society and the profession by using exaggerated and sharp-fanged sentence. Gulliver says he needs to go around the earth three times to prepare breakfast for female Yahoos. Hyperbole and irony used here express the vanity of female. Another example is that the doctor’s prognostics, killing the people when they recovery just because he has predicted their death. When you read it, you will feel how ironic it is.
In this chapter, we can feel that Gulliver hates human beings and has hardly sense of belonging to his native society that is similar to the real society. Showing his dissatisfaction with his country, Swift resurfaces the truth in Gulliver’s Travels, which makes it the mirror of the time.
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Exploration of the Themes of Gulliver’s Travels
I didn’t start writing the book report until I have read Gulliver’s Travels twice so that my work would do justice to its brilliant content. The book was written by Jonathan Swift(1667-1745), an eminent Irish writer and satirist. He was productive to such an extent that a host of masterpieces sprang up in his age. He is remembered for works like Gulliver’s Travels, A Journey to Stella, A Modest Proposal and The Battle of Books. Of all these, Gulliver’s Travels is the most prominent, and it is even dubbed as the twin of Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe .
Gulliver’s Travels is not only a fantasy but also an important satire in the world literature. It is a classic which always arouses the interest of every child to share Gulliver's adventures into those fantastic lands, and makes every adult reader ponder on the writer's bitter satire on the human race. The novel depicts the adventures of Lemuel Gulliver on four strange and mysterious islands. Gulliver is an enthusiastic and restless British, who is not confined to the ordinary life. That's why he is keen on taking voyages on the sea.
Gulliver begins his adventure on the first island——Lilliput, when he runs into a shipwreck and is pushed forward by the water and tide to the seashore. He wakes up only to find that he is fastened on each side to the ground by numerous tiny threads. And his hair is also tied down in the same manner. Likewise, there are several slender ligatures across his body, from his armpits to his thighs. It is extremely mind-boggling to Gulliver because the people who do this to him are only about 1/12 the size of normal human beings and less than 6 inches high. Tiny as they are, they excel in various fields, for instance, mathematics, construction, literature, arts and so on. Gulliver is ostracized by the inhabitants at first, but later he makes himself a national hero by putting out a conflagration in the royal palace.
Having been condemned, by nature and fortune, to an active and restless life, Gulliver undertakes his next sea voyage. This time, he is brought to a land of giants called Brobdingnag. He is scared and confounded by those prodigious creatures on the island. Here, Gulliver can be squashed to death under their foot if he is not cautious enough. He is initially discovered by a local farmer, who later takes him to the court. The upper class, especially the Queen, is largely entertained by Gulliver's distinguished musical talents. Quite interestingly, he leaves Brobdingnag when his cage is plucked up by an eagle and dropped into the sea.
Gulliver sets sail for the third time when, unfortunately, he is attacked by a gang of pirates and is later exiled to an isolated island called Laputa. What is peculiar about Laputa is that it should fly in the air, without the aid of anything. This nation makes
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the living by oppressing the people under it and obtain tax from them. The residents on the flying island are mainly theoreticians and daydreamers, who fancy in studying meaningless things and are enthusiastic about turning impossible things into possible. Finally, Gulliver grows tired of the unrealistic air on this island and decides to leave.
On his fourth journey, Gulliver gets trapped in Houyhnhnms, a world ruled by a group of horses. Here, the horses, who are rational and civilized, reign the brutal and barbaric Yahoos. But Gulliver is also astonished by the fact that his body turns out to be almost the same as the Yahoo's. Although he is treated with great courtesy and kindness by the horses and is enlightened by his many conversations with them, the rulers, namely, the Houyhnhnms always consider him to be a Yahoo, or a relatively more advanced one at most.
To my understanding, the author wants to reveal three themes to readers through these four weird and unbelievable adventures, .
First, the author tries to convey his dissatisfaction toward the dark and corrupt British society, in which people don't have to be really excellent or capable in order to hold a position in the government. Irony is the most important rhetorical devices that Swift exploits in this novel. The parties in Lilliput argue fiercely whether the egg should be broken from the large end or the small one. The argument of breaking eggs represents the ridiculous dispute between Catholic and Protestant on some complicated religious rituals. The ministers should have made efforts to improve the comprehensive power of the country and the well-being of the common people, rather than wasting time on those trifles. And this brings us to deep muse upon the decayed society and politics at that time.
Moreover, Swift also satires the odiousness and arrogance of the humanity. This is fully demonstrated in his travel in Brobdingnag. People there are too giant to see through the ugliness and defects of themselves. They reckon that they are the omnipotent across the world and can be defeated by no one. This is also similar to the rulers on the flying island, who make a living by taxing people. If they refuses, then they are deprived of air, sunshine and water. Such brutal rulers are just the replicates of the British invaders who conquer Ireland and other parts of the world by using force. As an Irish, the author strongly denounces the aggressive actions taken by the British invaders and their outrageous violence against the innocent common people.
Lastly, the author dreams of a harmonious and democratic society. This idea comes from his experience in Houyhnhnms, which is dominated by intelligent and disinterested horses. By mocking the greedy and savage Yahoos, Swift sings highly of the kindness and impartiality of the wise horses. He hopes that the world he lives in can also achieve such peace and fairness someday in the future.
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The lesson we may draw from Gulliver's unbelievable experience is that we should take a second look at our systems. Political and economic activities ought to be put under public scrutiny. It can't be denied that corruption is inevitable in today's world because of people's selfish nature. However, we can take some effective measures before the situation gets even worse. I believe our society will become more thriving and harmonious if we make strenuous efforts together.
Bibliography
1. 金海英 《格列佛游记》中的政治观点 科教文汇(中旬刊)2008 (12)
2. 方开瑞 《意识形态与小说翻译中人物形象的变形》 外语与外语教学 2005 (3)
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