A few things really stood out to me in this book: high heels and eggs, and the many different customs and traditions of the Lilliputians. In the book, Swift stated that people were distinguished by the height of their heels. The group known as the Slamecksan's wore short heels and the Tramecksan's wore tall heels. It turns out that the short heels have more power than the tall heels. The king's heels are short and the prince's heels are uneven...now this is very interesting. I figured this was because the prince does not have as much power as the king, so his heels are in between..haha. Maybe when it is his chance to become king his heels we be even.
The concept of the egg was very interesting too! Just because someone cut their finger on a egg by cracking it from the big end now the whole community has to change the way they crack a egg. Yes, this made me laugh because I thought it was absolutely ridiculous. However, in class we talked about how the controversy with the eggs related to the Protestants vs. Catholics. Swift is basically saying that the controversy between the Protestants and Catholics its not that serious. Especially when both religions are some what similar. I think Swift is saying there should be some type of agreement between both religions.
Lastly, although the many customs and traditions of the Lilliputians are very interesting. I want to talk about how good morals and honesty plays a major factor in their community. The Lilliputians state that it is a crime to falsely accuse someone of a crime. Also, those who perform good behavior receive money. I found this very interesting because dishonesty is taken very seriously, and in most cultures people who show good behavior are rarely acknowledged.
Overall, this book is pretty good. I enjoy reading it, now we will see about Book IV!
(I did not know there was a movie named Gulliver's Travels..how cool haha!)
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I have my own crazy conspiracy theory about the prince and his uneven heels that just borderlines soap opera drama: Maybe he is the product of the king having an affair with a Tramsecksan lady? I think we need a teeny tiny Maury Povich to make the call on that one, though.
ReplyDeleteI remember the Gulliver's Travels movie, but I never saw it. I only saw the trailer and some movie posters. From what I've heard, it was just awful, but what would I know cuz I didn't see it for myself.
I think the Lilliputians had good morals but I'm not so sure they executed them in the right way. As much as I applaud them seeing false accusations as being a bad thing, I'm not so sure putting the accuser to death is the best idea haha. I do like that this gives the reader an idea on where Lilliputians stand on the general idea of lying, though. It reminds of Oroonoko with the group of people who didn't even know what lying was. It seems like such an innocent concept, that lying is bad, but I think it's a really good one to have.
ReplyDeleteI do not know if Swift is alluding to an agreement between Catholicism and Protestantism or is trying to open their eyes that they are fundamentally the same. They both fall under Christianity's founding beliefs of the Bible. It is the smaller arguments that they do not agree upon. I also thought it was interesting in class that Dr. MB said the differences were also in the Protestant branches. There are much more branches of Protestantism today than there were then, so it would be interesting to see what would happen if this book would have been released in 2013 as opposed to 400 years ago.
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