“Gulliver’s Travel” by Jonathan Swift.
“Gulliver’s Travels”, or “Travels into Several
Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a
Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships” is the most brilliant as well as the most
bitter and controversial satires by an Irish novelist, Jonathan Swift. He claims that he wrote “Gulliver’s Travels ‘to vex the world rather than divert it”. Additionally, The book’s first edition was
released in two volumes on 28th October, 1726. Alexander Pope, friend of Gulliver, pens a set of five Verses on “Gulliver’s Travels,” which Swift liked
so much that he added them to the second edition of the book, though they are
rarely included.
“Gulliver’s Travels” has been described as a Menippean satire, a children’s story, proto-science fiction and a forerunner of the modern novel. It combines adventure with savage satire and mocking English customs and the politics of the day. For the first time, “Gulliver’s Travels,” four-part satirical was published anonymously in 1726 as “Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.” Unknowingly, a new edition was released in 1735 that included allegory, not found in the 1726 versions; this edition is published generally, though it is regarded as the more authentic version.
The novel initiates with Lemuel Gulliver, a surgeon and sea captain who visits remote regions of the worldand, and he describes four adventures. In the first one, Gulliver is the only survivor of a shipwreck, and he swims to Lilliput, where he is tied up by people who are less than 6 inches (15 cm) tall. In Lilliput, Gulliver is asked to help defend Lilliput against the empire of Blefuscu, with which Lilliput is at war. Gulliver is ordered by Lilliputian king that, “He shall be our ally against our enemies in the island of Blefuscu, and do his utmost to destroy their fleet, which is now preparing to invade us.” Eventually Gulliver falls out of favour and is sentenced to be blinded and starved. He flees to Blefuscu, where he finds a normal-size boat and is thus able to return to England.
Gulliver’s second voyage takes him to Brobdingnag, inhabited by a race of giants. A farm worker finds Gulliver and delivers him to the farm owner. One day the queen orders the farmer to bring Gulliver to her, and she purchases Gulliver. Here, The king responds to Gulliver’s description of the government and history of England by concluding that the English must be a race of “odious vermin.” Eventually Gulliver elicits pompously, “I heard a noise just over my head, like the clapping of wings, and the woful condition I was in; that some eagle had got the ring of my box in his beak, with an intent to let it fall on a rock."
In his third journey, Gulliver unfolds, “Laputa, I have never yet heard of any Yahoo so presumptuous as to dispute their being, or the facts I have related concerning them.” Though they are greatly concerned with mathematics and with music, they have no practical applications for their learning. Laputa is the home of the king of Balnibarbri, the continent below it. Gulliver is permitted to leave the island and visit Lagado, the capital city of Balnibarbri. In the kingdom of Luggnagg, he meets the struldbrugs, and from Luggnagg he is able to sail to Japan and thence back to England.
In the fourth part, Gulliver visits the land of the Houyhnhnms, a race of intelligent horses who are cleaner and more rational, communal, and benevolent (they have, most tellingly, no words for deception or evil) than the brutish, filthy, greedy, and degenerate humanoid race called, Yahoos. In commence, Gulliver outs, “And is there less probability in my account of the Houyhnhnms or Yahoos, when it is manifest as to the latter, there are so many thousands even in this country, who only differ from their brother brutes in Houyhnhnmland.” The Houyhnhnm concludes that the people of England are not more reasonable than the Yahoos. Gulliver then returns to England.
Throughout the novel, Swift, the master of irony among the moderns, and he has achieved no greater ironic masterpiece than the posthumous reputation, “Gulliver’s Travels.” Significantly, if Swift had written “Gulliver’s Travels” a few generations earlier, then he would have given little cause for complaint. Swift’s biting wit targets political corruption, religious hypocrisy, and scientific hubris. Lilliputian wars over the big-endian vs. little-endian controversy mock political pettiness, while Laputan heads stuck in the clouds satirize impractical knowledge.
To conclude, Swift’s parody, “Gulliver’s Travel” shows a middle-class Englishman, Gulliver is educated for a profession, acquainted with the skills and learning useful in his world and in his travels. He has an almost obsessive interest in Physical fact, as he records names, dates, sumsof money, the exact duration of voyages, latitudes and longitudes. Swift begins his exploration of social possibilities by presenting a very real, very possible world. Gulliver struggles to fit in with different societies but ultimately learns the importance of staying true to his own values and beliefs.
Comments