GulliverÕs Travels: Introduction, Books 1 and 2
I.
Back to Pope:
last two quotes here:
B.
Mixing confidence—expressed in
sound and structure—with confusion.
1.
Whatever is, is right—One clear truth
2.
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurld/The
glory, jest, and riddle of the world
3.
This could be epigraph for GT
II.
GulliverÕs
Travels: A childrenÕs book:
B.
Travel, adventure and marvels—
1.
Shipwreck
2.
Carried away by eagle
3.
Floating island
4.
Talking horses
C.
Wonders—Alice in
Wonderland—size switches; shifting points of view
1.
vividly and
concretely told; we are there
2.
Lilliput dolls house
3.
Brobdignag—kids
world
D.
Forbidden bodily functions viewed from
childÕs fascinated and engaged point of view—though usually bowdlerized
1.
Satire/Satyr—Rabelais; License
2.
symbolizes
everything that is crass and ignoble about the human body and about human
existence in general, and it obstructs any attempt to view humans as wholly
spiritual or mentally transcendent creatures.
3.
we are reminded how very little human reason has to do with
everyday existence.
4.
the
human condition in general is dirtier and lowlier than we might like to believe
it is.
III.
An adults book
A.
Complexity and richness
1.
Comparison/contrasts to Europe of the time—as in
Utopia and other travel and science fiction stories—engaging the reader
in outside perspective—a moral satire
2.
the four
parts and subparts and the comparison contrasts they elicit
a)
The
causes of Gulliver's misadventures become more malignant as time goes on - he
is first shipwrecked, then abandoned, then attacked by strangers, then attacked
by his own crew.
b)
Each
part is the reverse of the preceding part — Gulliver is
big/small/wise/ignorant, the countries are complex/simple/scientific/natural,
forms of government are worse/better/worse/better than England's.
3.
The symbolic and thematic use of size:
a)
small vs. large
(1)
sound of names
(2)
political thinking with L.
; moral judgemet with B.
(3)
embarks on trip for
money with L., for adventure with B.
b)
Lilliput:
sound of word: Lilliput (French)
(1)
charming toylike, but treacherous, malicious, ambitious, cruel
vengeful; we grow disenchanted
(2)
disproportion between natural
pettiness and boundless and destructive passions.
c)
Brobdingnag--abandoned by shipmates; adventure story; natuical jargon 121-- Brobdingnag-(Germanic)
(1)
not brutes --as he thinks but the
opposite; reflection on relativity—primitive and not proud or deceptive
(2)
domestic; family more
than state is emphasized
(3)
taken care of by
women, rather than male dominated Lilliputian state; brings out the nurturer in
creatures; monkey stuffs his mouth
4.
from the
character and judgment of the ÒunreliableÓ narrator and the readerÕs comparison
with their own ideas and those of the supposed author
a)
motive for travel: money and adventure—failed businesses;
marriage as financial deal
b)
Alienation
from European society and his own family throughout—restlessness;
curiosity; ambition
c)
GulliverÕs
gullibility
(1)
always believes what he
hears—we donÕt
(2)
always regards himself
as innocent and above reproach
d)
the change of the narratorÕs perspective as the narrative proceeds—
(1)
this is unrealistic to the degree that
all of the book was written after the last voyage was over
(2)
he progresses from a cheery optimist
at the start of the first part to the pompous misanthrope of the book's conclusion É
(a)
surprised by the viciousness and politicking of the Lilliputians but
finds the behaviour of the Yahoos in the fourth part
reflective of the behaviour of people—though
not himself
(3)
shifts throughout the
book, such as when Gulliver is disillusioned by the Lilliputians or begins to
see all humans, including himself as Yahoos.
IV.
Enlightenment
work
A.
Critique of irrational and inhumane
uneducated, unenlightened, unscientific, senseless, warlike, unjust aspects of
human society illuminated by confrontations with other societies
B.
Better, Utopian societies in books 2 and
4—where Gulliver as European looks bad by comparison
C.
Worse, Dystopian societies in 1 and
3—where Gulliver like a European looks good by comparison
D.
Empiricism
1.
Baconian/Lockian epistemology--our thoughts based on our sense
perceptions rather than preexistent ideas; tabula rasa; way a fly perceives;
relativity--scientific view
a)
[Locke
theme :"Were our sense altered and made much
quicker and acuter, the appearance and outward scheme of things would have
quite another face to us and, I am apt to think, would be
inconsistent with our being." ]
b)
Physics;
scale; primary vs. secondary qualities
V.
Anti-Enlightenment
work
A.
rebuttal of optimistic account of human capability; Hobbesian human
nature
1.
humans are
irrational animals not rational minds
2.
no
sense of progress—primitive societies in 2 and 4 are natural
B.
Some elements of Bad societies in 1 and 3
embody Enlightenment ideals
1.
Child-rearing, technological sophistication in Lilliput
2.
Excesses and obsessions with Science and Technology in Book
3
3.
Aspiring to higher fields of knowledge would be meaningless
to H. and B. and would interfere with their happiness. In such contexts, it
appears that living a happy and well-ordered life seems to be the very thing
for which Swift thinks knowledge is useful.
4.
Swift singles out theoretical knowledge in particular for
attack in Book 3: his portrait of the disagreeable and self-centered Laputans,
VI.
Part
1—Lilliput
A.
They start out impressive from a superior
point of view—both for Gulliver and the reader
1.
Ingenuity and intrepidness
a)
Their
ability to control him; first reception is hostile—tie him down and shoot
arrows—initially by physical coercion, but later by indoctrination
2.
Mathematicians and carpenters—marvelous machines; his
skill as a mechanic
B.
Gulliver gets caught up in their world
and shrinks to their size as the reader is distanced from them and him
C.
As the book progresses they become more
repulsive to the reader and Gulliver, their limitations symbolically expressed
by their size
1.
humankindÕs wildly
excessive pride in its own puny existence.
2.
tiniest race
visited by Gulliver as vainglorious and smug, both collectively and
individually. É
a)
There
is more backbiting and conspiracy in Lilliput than anywhere else, and more of
the pettiness of small minds who imagine themselves to
be grand.
(1)
political intrigue; way of
thinking; secrecy, which he learns by the end
(2)
The diversions: rope dancing; leaping and creeping over the
stick
(3)
ambition of princes 89;
his honor and title 90
b)
Their
materialism, bean counting, inventories
(1)
Documents and testimony: the exact inventory; the bean
counting of the Treasurer
c)
Their
language and style
(1)
Person of quality, submission and dominance, protocol
(2)
Their formally worded
condemnation of Gulliver on grounds of treason is a model of pompous and
self-important verbiage, but it works quite effectively on the na•ve Gulliver.
(3)
use of lawyers; diplomacy and
contract; royal proclamations and costumes; making themselves look big when
they're actually small
d)
Gulliver
is a na•ve consumer of the LilliputiansÕ grandiose imaginings: he is flattered
by the attention of their royal family and cowed by their threats of
punishment.
VII.
Part 2—Brobdingnag
A.
They start out appearing fierce and crude
and gradually become appealing
1.
His fellow seaman flee, though native holds up hand in
greeting
2.
large
limbed and either primitive or large-hearted; unacquainted with Lilliputian
smallness; unsophisticated
B.
The Brobdingnagians
symbolize the private, personal, and physical side of humans when examined up
close and in great detail.
1.
the
domestic sphere; here he is treated as a doll or a plaything, and thus is made
privy to the urination of housemaids and the sexual lives of women
2.
loving
family life; nursery; sexual uninhibited ladies; nurturing care for G. everywhere;
a)
examples of treatment of miniatures; taken care of by little girl;
infantilized; treat servants well;
love pets; beds, cradles; they change his clothes, treat him like doll
3.
ChildÕs eye view—insects, etc;
a plaything; object of exploitation, indifference and tenderness; delicacy and
fascination with small things; exclusion at first from adult concerns and then
a darling
4.
world seen
as either nurturing or threatening--sword swashbuckler; childlike
C.
utopia--humane and enlightened prince
1.
King is disillusioned and so is G. by difference between
what Europe ought to be and is
2.
G. disillusioned by realizing how
gross he must have seemed to Liliputians-- Gunpowder
3.
Fall from hybris; Phaeton's fall;
the eagle; Lilliputian confidence shaken; grandeur of Europe seen as nothing
VIII.
Quotations
A.
Parade of Lilliputians under Gulliver
3.
Two days after this adventure, the emperor, having ordered
that part of his army which quarters in and about his metropolis, to be in
readiness, took a fancy of diverting himself in a very singular manner.
a)
Introduction
and setting: mutual diversions of court and Gulliver prompted by his
strangeness—rope dancers
b)
Getting
acquainted; he gets his hat
c)
Amiability
and diversion
4.
He desired I would stand like a Colossus, with my legs as
far asunder as I conveniently could. He then commanded his general (who
was an old experienced leader, and a great patron of mine) to draw up the
troops in close order, and march them under me; the foot by twenty-four
abreast, and the horse by sixteen, with drums beating, colours
flying, and pikes advanced. This body consisted of three thousand foot,
and a thousand horse.
a)
Ògreat patron of mineÓ—Gulliver talking
Lilliputian—faction and flattery and name dropping and cowtowing—opposed to the Treasurer his Òmortal enemyÓ
b)
martial display for the EmperorÕs benefit; ceremony and spectacle;
pomp and circumstance—
c)
Arch
of Triumph É grand parade—in full view of GulliverÕs nether
regions—is supremely silly, a absurd way to
boost the collective ego of the nation.
d)
numbers; math; numerousness makes up for size
5.
His majesty gave orders, upon pain of death, that every
soldier in his march should observe the strictest decency with regard to my
person;
a)
Prissiness,
my person, threat of punishment
6.
which
however could not prevent some of the younger officers from turning up their
eyes as they passed under me:
a)
tolerated infraction; good humor, decency grows with indecency
7.
and, to
confess the truth, my breeches were at that time in so ill a condition, that
they afforded some opportunities for laughter and admiration.
a)
Confess
the truth, at his own expense, and for his own
gloryÉrepeated return to the notion that Òsize mattersÓ in regard to the
genitalia of a giant.
8.
Context:
a)
His
impressive pee and sneeze—importance and denial of body
2333—especially gross and embarrassing among these petit
people—gross as large 2334—poops in the temple—contrast of
clean and dirty
b)
When
I found myself on my feet, I looked about me, and must confess I never beheld a
more entertaining prospect. The country around appeared like a continued
garden, and the enclosed fields, which were generally forty feet square,
resembled so many beds of flowers. These fields were intermingled with
woods of half a stang, [301] and the tallest trees, as I could
judge, appeared to be seven feet high. I viewed the town on my left hand,
which looked like the painted scene of a city in a theatre.
c)
I
had been for some hours extremely pressed by the necessities of nature; which
was no wonder, it being almost two days since I had last disburdened
myself. I was under great difficulties between urgency and shame.
The best expedient I could think of, was to creep into my house, which I
accordingly did; and shutting the gate after me, I went as far as the length of
my chain would suffer, and discharged my body of that uneasy load. É
d)
I
would not have dwelt so long upon a circumstance that, perhaps, at first sight,
may appear not very momentous, if I had not thought it necessary to justify my
character, in point of cleanliness, to the world; which, I am told, some of my
maligners have been pleased, upon this and other occasions, to call in
question.
B.
Naval victory and betrayal--Chapter 5
1.
The emperor and his whole court stood on the shore,
expecting the issue of this great adventure.
a)
SpectatorÕs
point of view
2.
They saw the ships move forward in a large half-moon, but
could not discern me, who was up to my breast in water. When I advanced
to the middle of the channel, they were yet more in pain, because I was under
water to my neck. The emperor concluded me to be drowned, and that the
enemyÕs fleet was approaching in a hostile manner:
a)
emphasizing heroics and suspense
3.
but he
was soon eased of his fears; for the channel growing shallower every step I
made, I came in a short time within hearing, and holding up the end of the
cable, by which the fleet was fastened, I cried in a loud voice, ÒLong live the
most puissant king of Lilliput!Ó This great prince received me at my
landing with all possible encomiums, and created me a nardac upon the spot, which is
the highest title of honour among them.
a)
Gulliver
playing the glory game, succeeding, and feeling pride—military
triumph—a Lilliputian victory
4.
His majesty desired I would take some other opportunity of
bringing all the rest of his enemyÕs ships into his ports. And so unmeasureable is the ambition of princes, that he seemed to
think of nothing less than reducing the whole empire of Blefuscu
into a province, and governing it, by a viceroy; of destroying the Big-endian
exiles, and compelling that people to break the smaller end of their eggs, by
which he would remain the sole monarch of the whole world.
a)
disillusionment about them at the moment of triumph
5.
But I endeavoured to divert him
from this design, by many arguments drawn from the topics of policy as well as
justice; and I plainly protested, Òthat I would never be an instrument of
bringing a free and brave people into slavery.Ó And, when the matter was
debated in council, the wisest part of the ministry were
of my opinion.
a)
Deluded
sense that he is a real player now
6.
This open bold declaration of mine was so opposite to the
schemes and politics of his imperial majesty, that he
could never forgive me.
a)
Reversal
of his fortune as he gets involved with secret intrigues
7.
He mentioned it in a very artful manner at council, where I
was told that some of the wisest appeared, at least by their silence, to be of
my opinion; but others, who were my secret enemies, could not forbear some expressions which, by a side-wind, reflected on me.
a)
Complex
analysis of truth vs. appearance
8.
And from this time began an intrigue between his majesty
and a junto of ministers, maliciously bent against
me, which broke out in less than two months, and had like to have ended in my
utter destruction. Of so little weight are the greatest services to
princes, when put into the balance with a refusal to gratify their passions.
a)
GulliverÕs
progressively more disillusioned experience turning him to a
moralist—when it suits his convenience
C.
Reward and Punishment—Ch. 6
1.
Although we usually call reward and punishment the two
hinges upon which all government turns, yet I could never observe this maxim to
be put in practice by any nation except that of Lilliput. Whoever can
there bring sufficient proof, that he has strictly observed the laws of his
country for seventy-three moons, has a claim to certain privileges, according
to his quality or condition of life, with a proportionable
sum of money out of a fund appropriated for that use: he likewise acquires the
title of snilpall,
or legal, which is added to his name, but does not descend to his
posterity. And these people thought it a prodigious defect of policy
among us, when I told them that our laws were enforced only by penalties,
without any mention of reward. It is upon this account that the image of
Justice, in their courts of judicature, is formed with six eyes, two before, as
many behind, and on each side one, to signify circumspection; with a bag of
gold open in her right hand, and a sword sheathed in her left, to show she is
more disposed to reward than to punish.
a)
Lilliputian
mindset—reward and punishment; behaviorist; no sense of obligation to
community; goodness is merely pragmatic
(1)
Is this true?
(2)
What about volunteerism?
b)
Reformation/rationalist
government reform—utilitarianism
(1)
could this work?
(2)
Why or why not?
D.
Reputation of TreasurerÕs wife—Ch.
6
1.
I am here obliged to vindicate the reputation of an
excellent lady, who was an innocent sufferer upon my account.
a)
Always
regards himself as innocent; we dont
2.
The treasurer took a fancy to be jealous of his wife, from
the malice of some evil tongues, who informed him that her grace had taken a
violent affection for my person; and the court scandal ran for some time, that
she once came privately to my lodging.
a)
Gossip—implication—based
on small ideas of propriety; whatÕs proper
3.
This I solemnly declare to be a most infamous falsehood,
without any grounds, further than that her grace was pleased to treat me with
all innocent marks of freedom and friendship. I own she came often to my
house, but always publicly, nor ever without three more in the coach, who were
usually her sister and young daughter, and some particular acquaintance; but
this was common to many other ladies of the court. And I still appeal to
my servants round, whether they at any time saw a coach at my door, without
knowing what persons were in it.
a)
Righteous
defensiveness
4.
On those occasions, when a servant had given me notice, my
custom was to go immediately to the door, and, after paying my respects, to
take up the coach and two horses very carefully in my hands (for, if there were
six horses, the postillion always unharnessed four,)
and place them on a table, where I had fixed a movable rim quite round, of five
inches high, to prevent accidents. And I have often had four coaches and
horses at once on my table, full of company, while I sat in my chair, leaning
my face towards them; and when I was engaged with one set, the coachmen would
gently drive the others round my table. I have passed many an afternoon
very agreeably in these conversations. But I defy the treasurer, or his
two informers (I will name them, and let them make the best of it) Clustril and Drunlo, to prove
that any person ever came to me incognito,
except the secretary Reldresal, who was sent by
express command of his imperial majesty, as I have before related.
a)
Endless
excuses; paranoia
5.
I should not have dwelt so long upon this particular, if it
had not been a point wherein the reputation of a great lady is so nearly
concerned, to say nothing of my own; though I then had the honour
to be a nardac,
which the treasurer himself is not; for all the world knows, that he is only a glumglum, a
title inferior by one degree, as that of a marquis is to a duke in England; yet
I allow he preceded me in right of his post.
a)
When
challenged gets most Lilliputian and forgets his size
E.
Nursing the baby—Chapter 1
1.
When dinner was almost done, the nurse came in with a child
of a year old in her arms, who immediately spied me,
and began a squall that you might have heard from London-Bridge to Chelsea,
after the usual oratory of infants, to get me for a plaything. The
mother, out of pure indulgence, took me up, and put me towards the child, who
presently seized me by the middle, and got my head into his mouth, where I
roared so loud that the urchin was frighted, and let
me drop, and I should infallibly have broke my neck, if the mother had not held
her apron under me.
a)
These
people are large and obvious—back to basics, not Lilliputian trivia;
fighting animals; the little boy; the peasant; the nurse; the infant; the
rats—he is infantilizedÉhas a nurse; his attitudes are childish and
small; his shame about excretion is ridiculous; little children taking aim at
him; no treachery, simply threatened, bullied, exploited or loved and cared
for; Glumdalclitch is opposite of her father and
accepted by a court which is truly upper class; nevertheless, heÕs bullied by
children and the dwarf—those who are bullied bully (Chapter 4)
b)
Gulliver
is heroic and martial in his fight against monsters and his escapes—but
these epic battles are just entertainment for the BÕs. Otherwise here he wants not freedom but
protection
2.
The nurse, to quiet her babe, made use of a rattle which
was a kind of hollow vessel filled with great stones, and fastened by a cable
to the childÕs waist: but all in vain; so that she was forced to apply the last
remedy by giving it suck. I must confess no object ever disgusted me so
much as the sight of her monstrous breast, which I cannot tell what to compare
with, so as to give the curious reader an idea of its bulk, shape, and colour. It stood prominent six feet, and could not be
less than sixteen in circumference. The nipple was about half the bigness
of my head, and the hue both of that and the dug, so varied with spots,
pimples, and freckles, that nothing could appear more nauseous: for I had a
near sight of her, she sitting down, the more conveniently to give suck, and I
standing on the table. This made me reflect upon the fair skins of our English
ladies, who appear so beautiful to us, only because they are of our own size,
and their defects not to be seen but through a magnifying glass; where we find
by experiment that the smoothest and whitest skins look rough, and coarse, and
ill-coloured.
a)
The
huge power of desire and the aesthetics of beauty all relative—way we see
the world is conditional on our senses--Bacon
3.
I remember when I was at Lilliput, the complexion of those
diminutive people appeared to me the fairest in the world; and talking upon this
subject with a person of learning there, who was an intimate friend of mine, he
said that my face appeared much fairer and smoother when he looked on me from
the ground, than it did upon a nearer view, when I took him up in my hand, and
brought him close, which he confessed was at first a very shocking sight.
He said, Òhe could discover great holes in my skin; that the stumps of my beard
were ten times stronger than the bristles of a boar, and my complexion made up
of several colours altogether disagreeable:Ó although
I must beg leave to say for myself, that I am as fair as most of my sex and
country, and very little sunburnt by all my travels. On the other side,
discoursing of the ladies in that emperorÕs court, he used to tell me, Òone had
freckles; another too wide a mouth; a third too large a nose;Ó nothing of which
I was able to distinguish. I confess this reflection was obvious enough;
which, however, I could not forbear, lest the reader might think those vast
creatures were actually deformed: for I must do them the justice to say, they
are a comely race of people, and particularly the features of my masterÕs
countenance, although he was but a farmer, when I beheld him from the height of
sixty feet, appeared very well proportioned.
a)
Also
the maids of honor in chapter 5 ÒOf HonorÓ—behind closed doors
F.
Brobdignagian kingÕs judgment—chapter 6
1.
He was perfectly astonished with the historical account
gave him of our affairs during the last century; protesting Òit was only a heap
of conspiracies, rebellions, murders, massacres, revolutions, banishments, the
very worst effects that avarice, faction, hypocrisy, perfidiousness, cruelty,
rage, madness, hatred, envy, lust, malice, and ambition, could produce.Ó
a)
Lists
2.
His majesty, in another audience, was at the pains to
recapitulate the sum of all I had spoken; compared the questions he made with
the answers I had given; then taking me into his hands, and stroking me gently,
delivered himself in these words, which I shall never forget, nor the manner he
spoke them in: ÒMy little friend Grildrig, you have
made a most admirable panegyric upon your country;
a)
Treated
like a child by indulgent and understanding and unthreatened parent
3.
you have
clearly proved, that ignorance, idleness, and vice, are the proper ingredients for
qualifying a legislator; that laws are best explained, interpreted, and
applied, by those whose interest and abilities lie in perverting, confounding,
and eluding them.
a)
Ring
a bell?
4.
I observe among
you some lines of an institution, which, in its original, might have been
tolerable, but these half erased, and the rest wholly
blurred and blotted by corruptions.
a)
Qualified
and careful judgment
5.
It does not
appear, from all you have said, how any one perfection is required toward the
procurement of any one station among you; much less, that men are ennobled on
account of their virtue; that priests are advanced for their piety or learning;
soldiers, for their conduct or valour; judges, for
their integrity; senators, for the love of their country; or counsellors for their wisdom.
6.
As for
yourself,Ó continued the king, Òwho have spent the greatest part of your life
in travelling, I am well disposed to hope you may hitherto have escaped many
vices of your country.
a)
Hope
for Gulliver as alienated man, but that was disappointedÉthis sets up Book 4
7.
But by what I have gathered from your own relation, and the
answers I have with much pains wrung and extorted from you, I cannot but
conclude the bulk of your natives to be the most pernicious race of little
odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the
earth.Ó
