Sunday, May 5, 2013
Lilliputian society
Why do the Lilliputians have so many similarities to human society? So far they have many similarities, including government structure, similar occupations (lawyers and priests), and similar tools and weapons to name a few. When Mr. Halley gave us a brief background on the book, he mentioned something about society, whether it be themes or criticisms or something like that, so be on the lookout for sociological messages.
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I should add that the similarities in the two societies should not be present because the societies developed isolated from each other, and therefore would not have achieved the same result because of different geographical and political factors.
ReplyDeleteThe Lilliputians also have many differences to human society. They bury the dead upside down in the belief that world, which they think is flat, to be turned upside down and the dead will become living again. Also, they write from corner to corner instead of left to write. Deceit is one of the largest crimes. If someone were to falsely accuse someone of a crime, they would be put to death.For schooling, the children are sent away from their families to nurseries until the age of twelve to get their education. The parents of these children are only allowed to see there kids twice a year for an hour and are not allowed to show any form of affection towards their child.
DeleteI think the reason why the Lilliputians are so similar is that they technically are humans, just shorter. Because of this, I think it would allow for the development of structures and jobs to be similar to any other society around the world. Due to the resources being similar, I would have suspected that some of the ideas in the society would have been more similar to ours, like through their education and their religion. But, it probably developed differently because they have not had contact with any other people around the world to influence how their society works.
ReplyDeleteThe contrast between humans and Lilliputians is there so that we can look at the differences and realize that there arent many, apart from size. We share many qualities, and the ones that are different like the upside down burying and the debates over egg cracking are intended to point out our own silly problems and how strange and insignificant they really are. Also, some of the strange social ideas included like deceit being a serious crime is Swift's personal view on what law should be like, and he actually agrees with those.
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