Monday, May 27, 2013
Why Swift Chose The Societies That He Did?
When I was reading about Lilliput, Brobdingnag, Laputa, and Houyhnhnms, I took a step back and asked myself why Swift would choose these societies rather than a normal human society. I first looked at Lilliput. I realized that Lilliput was constantly in political disputes that were between them and the island of Blefuscu. I think he made both civilizations to be small people because he wanted to show that political discussions are not that important because they tend to be about the dumbest things. In the book, he portrays this with the eggs discussion. On Brobdingnag, Gulliver is forced to be a method of entertainment for its people. Swift makes the people of Brobdingnag large to show that entertainment its important in a society. Laputa is a world that floats above another island. On Laputa, there are many talented mathematians and scientists. The point of having them on this floating island is to show that these subjects are more important than the daily lives of the towns on the mainlands. Throughout the book, Swift emphasizes this by incorporating some sort of mathematics or science in each of his societies.
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I totally agree with your statement on emphasizing mathematics and the sciences in this book. But, that may not be the only reason for the choice of societies. Each society differs from each other greatly, and they show the different attributes that make each society great. But the flaws of each society show the different flaws of the countries of Europe. Swift is satirizing these flaws throughout each part of Gulliver's Travels and does it to show just how imperfect our society is. To support this, the rulers and masters of Gulliver on his travels always question him about his society in England and of Europe. Gulliver usually answers so descriptively,which makes each caretaker of him dislike the society of this unknown land even more. So I think Swift chose the societies he did to show his dislike of his home country and land in which he came from.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your reasoning too. There are many reasons that can be attributed to why Swift chose the four different societies. You are definitely right about Gulliver revealing all of the imperfections about the societies back home while on his journeys. I had not yet finished the book when I created the original post so I did not realize the reason you brought up. After finishing the book, I read about Gulliver's want to be separated from society due to the flaws that are embedded into it.
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