Swift's Utopia?

     I have to say I am admittedly a little miffed with Mother Nature for her role in preventing further discussion on Gulliver's Travels as I have been looking forward to this text all semester! So, I have resolved to continue the discussion in some proportion.

     As I prepare to face this final, I am pondering all the connections and thematic similarities that can be made across the texts we have covered this semester.  And I have been thinking about Swift's potential motives when writing this narrative. We've spent a fair amount of time discussing utopian and dystopian thought and this has made me think more about how Swift may have been engaging in a sort of utopian pun. While we've talked about how he is satirizing England society, it seems he uses the different societies Gulliver encounters, such as that of the Lilliputians and the Houyhnhnms, as conversation starters for his contemporaries to question the way things are done in their own society. Personally, I find these “civilizations” bizarre and unattractive, which brings me to the question: is he intending to open the floor for new ideas to inspire change or does this story serve to repel us from the idea of a utopia (a perfect society) and perhaps even those cultures who are different?

The Little People and the Horses - Are they 'Good'?

Are the Lilliputians inherently bad? I know that they’re supposed to be caricatures of the modern English folk for Swift’s time, but I can’t help but wonder if there’s more to them than that. Granted, they’re at times just as petty and odd as our own race is, what with the pointed shoes and eggshell crackings, but I would still argue that the Lilliputians are not as bad as we are or could be, at the very least.

 It’s in the way that they interact with Gulliver himself that makes me think this, at least marginally. Aspects of their society, while somewhat barbaric compared to ours, could also be seen as somewhat favorable as being good intentioned (the main example being how children are separated from their parents for so long). Their society almost in some ways mirrors the society of Utopia, albeit the Lilliputians are much more materialistic and focused on wealth and conquering other nations.

As Jordan mentioned in another blog post, Gulliver himself is very much a caricature of a middle class of people, with his naturally submissive nature and gullibility towards the Lilliputians. Yet, at first, the Lilliputians treat Gulliver pretty darn kindly. Sure, they make him follow certain rules that may seem a bit tyrannical, but if they’re willing to take the momentous effort to maintain him and feed him, then doesn’t that almost make them more selfless than anything else? After all, one can only imagine how much food it takes for Gulliver to survive on a daily basis. Just how would that end up affecting the economy and farmers’ livelihoods?

Is Gulliver really worth the amount of effort that’s being put into his caretaking? Granted, it must be creating a ton of new jobs in getting waiters and attendants for him, but all he ever really did was put out a fire (in the worst way possible) and seize the entire Navy of the enemy island. Granted, the latter of the two is pretty gosh darned important, but even that can only go so far.

Until some of them plot to kill Gulliver, the Lilliputians honestly seemed like pretty swell people. Their society is one that, while I wouldn’t want to live in it, I’d certainly want to visit. They seem like they’d be pretty nice if you kept on their good side.

It’s the same with the horse people. Those guys, while extremely egotistical and haughty, have a certain elegance to them that reminds me a lot of the English upper class. There’s a certain superiority about them that would make them, at the very least, fun to hang around. Even their language sounds super pretentious, and I can only imagine it being spoken with a kind of pish posh British drawl that would make it especially amusing.

Granted, they have a concept of slavery same as the Lilliputians, but both races seem much more civilized than our own Yahoo race. It’s odd considering that they both represent certain characteristics of human society, but have perfection in almost everything else that makes them seem all the more idyllic.

So I wrote this a few days ago and forgot to publish it....

The houyhnhnms! These horses were one of my favorite parts to read about when I first read Gulliver’s Travels. However, the Yahoos were among my least favorite parts of reading the novel. Either way I found myself marveling at the genius of Jonathon Swift using these stories to display his discontent with England. When Gulliver first gets to the land of the Houyhnhnms he meets the Yahoos first which are ugly creatures that look part goat and part human. The worst part of this though was when they tried to defecate on Gulliver. I think Swift has a slight obsession with bodily functions…

But anyways, based on what Gulliver says in the text, comparing the Yahoos to the people that run the government at home, it is clear that Swift doesn’t like the people in charge of England either. Another aspect of book IV that I found interesting was the part where Gulliver and the leader of the Houyhnhnms were talking about Gulliver’s homeland and the leader had a hard time understanding a lot of his customs. Such as horse riding, “My Master, after some Expressions of great Indignation, wondered how we dared to venture upon a Houyhnhnm’s Back, for he was sure, that the weakest Servant in his House would be able to shake off the strongest Yahoo, or by lying down, and rolling on his Back, squeeze the Brute to Death.” (222- Penguin classics edition) He made such a good point that I hadn’t thought of before and I think that was Jonathon Swift’s aim, to get the reader to think about our own societies actions.

Why are only the Lilliputians popular??

     Reading Gulliver's Travels I went into it expecting that the book was going to be entirely about mean little people with a giant Gulliver washed up on their island. This may or may not have been from the movie I had seen a few years back starring Jack Black...

 

Reference: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfXsxVsX8Eu0qTlANXT53XuO-IlQ09k4yKNqtEvkH5zxgKeuIk2pOb0VQaWfuOkPydjxA0FYe-yJy934Up3VrY_OoX8eFQrpXROoXYkpkwT5LKPiGJTDxA_CwZnqT87hdoTi7fCs-w7EWt/s400/gullivers-travels.jpg 

 

In this movie, I think Jack Black does a good job at portraying Gulliver's naiveté, but the entire movie is focused on the Lilliputians. Everything I have heard or learned about has been about a washed-up giant on a island filled with little people. But class and actually reading the book made me realize that there is much more to this book that Jonathon Swift wanted to say.

    

     The book is about the MANY travels of Gulliver, not just one. This makes me think about why the Houyhnhnms are not as popular. One reason could be the fact that they are horses and not actual people. The Houyhnhnm part of the novel makes fun of all of human nature whereas the Lilliputian only focuses on select flaws that humans tend to display.

 

     This circles back to the fact that one of the greatest flaws is human pride according to the fourth part of the book, and human pride is what keeps that part of the novel from being popular. People do not like to be told that they are in the wrong and that a different way of doing things may be better than theirs. Humans do not like to be under submission to other animals; that is not how the animal kingdom works. However, humans find it more "normal" to submit to the tiny Lilliputians just because they are technically the same animal as humans.

 

     Overall, I think that both parts are just as humorous, and that Swift does a great job of portraying the Houyhnhnms to see how ridiculous some of human culture is and how pride gets in the way of success and greatness.

 

 

Reference: http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs4/i/2004/254/1/e/Houyhnhnm_and_Yahoo_by_EmperorNortonII.jpg

 

 

*On a side note: I also believe that Swift is trying to portray the cruelty and inhumanity of enslaving human beings, but that is an entirely different blog.

 

**On a second side note: Spelling Houyhnhnms is extremely difficult.

    

Got me thinking...

   So I was just wondering why Gulliver decides to even stay in Lilliput after he is set free. Dr. Mitchell-Buck asked this question in class and it resonated with me. Of course if Gulliver left there would be no story but it honestly doesn't make sense for him to even humor these small little terrors when he's waayy bigger. And how can he not escape them before they get to Lilliput? He has a gone and just the fact that he's a giant to their tiny little bodies gives him an automatic advantage. I mean really? He even signs a contract which is so silly and comical. So this line of thought got me to thinking. The Lilliputians represent the various groups of Protestants (Whigs and Tories) in Britain. Swift is satirizing these Protestants and various other political parties. These groups argue over silly things and this is represented by the Lilliputians'  arguments such as  high heels and eggs issue. Why does it matter whether you wear high heels or not or an egg is supposed to be cracked? These squabbles are comical and idiotic; they emphasize how illogical these religious and political groups are being during this time in Britain. My questions is if the Lilliputians represent the various groups of Protestants (Whigs and Tories) in Britain who does Gulliver represent? 
     Well, I'm thinking that Gulliver may represent the common folk of London. If there about 2 million people in London during this time that means there is a bigger population of normal folk than high society, religious, and political groups. A small amount of elite rule a huge population of people just working to get food, clothes, and a better place in society. Huh? That doesn't sound right. Why aren't  the middle and poor class (who make up the biggest part of the population) able to make their own rules for themselves? Perhaps Swift is satirizing this problem right here. Gulliver is bigger, but gullibe (hence the name) and a little too nice and naive. His choices don't make sense. He stays in Lilliput. He signs a contract requiring specific behavior and tasks of him. Yet He's BIGGER and stronger. Why does he let himself be ruled under the thumb of tiny little terrors he can just crush under his feet? Maybe Swift is asking people to think of how ridiculous society works. 
     This book has really got me thinking about our present society because we don't really question how our own society and government. Oh we have lots of complaints and beliefs maybe but we do nothing about it. Us normal people are too busy working, going to school, and trying to make a life for ourselves to really ensure that our society isn't controlled by rich people sitting behind big oak desks signing our lives away. However, I do have to say our society has come a long way in time and maybe that's what we need. The world needs time to figure out some things and stop worrying about little petty tiffs...I guess. I'm not sure yet. 

Post 2 of 1

A Mountain of Satire

Let me just start off by saying I was so excited for this week, especially after finishing Oroonoko last week because Gulliver’s Travels was something that I had already read. The satirical references aren’t always the easiest for me to catch but this book is so ludicrous and yet entertaining that I actually like it. I remember when I first read it I was like oh wow…yep he’s peeing and pooping and their wheeling it away in barrels. Interesting. But something I had not thought of, which came up in our discussion today was the idea of why Gulliver is even living under the rules of the Lilliputians? “Besides, I now considered myself as bound by the Laws of Hospitality to a People who had treated me with so much Expense and Magnificence” (26). As was said in class today, he could easily kill all these people by simply stepping on them. So is he an idiot for obeying the laws of these little people? Or is this Jonathan Swift’s way of showing the reader that although you are bigger and more powerful, when shown kindness and authority of a nation foreign to your own there needs to be a level of respect? Perhaps it was about a respect that was not shown to Ireland from England in the 17^th century? For those of you that don’t know, and from what I can remember from European history, the English conquest of Ireland was extremely brutal and bloody during that time period. I wouldn’t be surprised if Swift used the anger for his homeland to fuel this first story.

Everything Comes Down To Poop

Now, I was going to finally write something about Oroonoko (which, for some reason, sounds like a girl's name to me....but that's not what I was going to talk about...I promise), but our discussion about the various excrement in Gulliver's Travels just made me laugh so much that I had to save my depressing Oroonoko blog for later in favor of this one about, you guessed it, POOP!

Hahaha! College sure is great, isn't it?

Leave it to Jonathan Swift to answer life's most meaningful questions: just what can we do with an area that is overpopulated and starving and how does one dispose of poop when stranded on an island anyways? Gotta love that crazy Irishman, right?

Now, other than being incredibly funny, the description of the disposal of the poop actually makes a statement. Well, actually, since every reader sees different messages in the same work of literature, the poop actually makes multiple statements! I'm just gonna write mine down here, though.

It takes 300 Lilliputian tailors to dress the gargantuan Gulliver. It takes 300 Lilliputian chefs to feed him. And it takes 300 Lilliputian...excrement evacuators to dispose of the waste that Gulliver produces.

It's a dirty job, but somebody has to do it. And I think that is exactly what Jonathan Swift is saying through his extensive description about the disposal of poop. During Swift's time, as well as our own time, there were people doing the dirtiest and seemingly most meaningless jobs. These people receive little to almost no recognition as to their contribution to society. They might sometimes feel as if their contributions to society are meaningless and wonder why they bother to wake up each morning to do it day in and day out.

However, consider if you were a Lilliputian with the giant Gulliver on your island home. This behemoth is excreting tons upon tons upon tons of waste almost on a daily basis (that is, if he's regular of course). If those 300 people in charge of the poop disposal suddenly woke up and decided not to bother taking care of the poop, the results would be catastrophic. Poop would be everywhere. Your once idyllic homeland is now overflowing with stinking shit. Your water is contaminated from the excrement. People die every day from the effects of the shit. There is no escape. You are only left to wonder when you will be next.

All because those 300 excrement evacuators decided that their job was not worth doing.

So, I think that Swift is saying that in order to have a functioning society, every cog, gear, nut, bolt, etc. no matter how small needs to do their part. Some parts may seem unnecessary or insignificant, but without that one part, your world could suddenly be overrun with shit. Because...as many Scrubs fans may already know:

 

Also, I would like to point out that using shit as imagery, as many of you may know, is not just something Jonathan Swift did once and was never spoken of again. It has been used in modern day media as well. Yeah, it is under a different context and expressing a different meaning but it is still there. My personal favorite example is from South Park. If you're a fan of the show, then you know what series of episodes I am talking about: the ones concerning Stan's cynicism.

For some reason, I couldn't find the link from the video uploader, but the link below should take you to one of my favorite parts of the series of episodes (and maybe even the entire show).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdD3hSW1UpM 

 

Anyways, just wanted to shoot the shit with you guys for a bit (haha...get it? Shoot the shit?...no? Damn.)