The Chapter Titles

Despite the complexity of the stories in Gulliver's Travels, the section titles are not very in-depth and are rather blunt (ex. A Voyage to Lilliput). I'm a bit curious as to know why Swift decided to leave the titles to be non-descriptive and straightforward...

A Slight Confusion

Throughout all of his travels, Gulliver manages to learn the languages of the inhabitants he meets. This is a bit confusing because Gulliver eventually meets a land full of intelligent horses, but I would find it hard for a person to even try to understand and learn gestures from horses! With all the different and bizarre cultures Gulliver encounters, Gullivers is doing quite well with adapting to these lifestyles.

Gulliver's Choice

I strongly disagree with Gulliver's choice of living with the Houyhnhnms and leaving his own people. He has abandoned his own species due to the minor flaws they exhibit. What do you guys think of this atrocity?

Japanese Isolation

Japan from the Tokugawa shogunate until the Meiji Restoration in the late 1800s has been known to endorse a policy of political isolation, as many other Asian countries did until the imposition of imperialism from European countries. This policy of sequesterment from the outside world comes into play in the book in a number of ways. While the Japanese are at amiable terms with Lugnagg ad even offer regular ferry services between Japan and Lugnagg as a sign of their healthy relationship, Europe is not yet in contact with the Lugnagg civilization. This is not the only sign of the isolationism of the Japanese. Gulliver travels home with a crew of Dutch sailors, the only European civilization the Japanese government allow contact with. It is interesting to see Gulliver implement real-world scenarios other than the British culture into Gulliver's Travels.

Possible Location of Lugnagg

Continuing with the speculation of hypothetical locations for Lilliput and Brobdingnag, the location of Lugnagg described in the book as located about 100 leagues southwest of Japan. However, as opposed to finding the precise location of entities in the previous two sections, "southwest of Japan" encompasses a huge area within the Micronesian islands, a group of approximately 2100 islands over an area 7.4 million square kilometers. This makes the search for a precisely matching island extremely difficult. In addition, many of the Micronesian islands were not known to the European realm until the journeys of Cook. However, the Magellan encountered the Marianas during his circumnavigation around the world, suggesting one of the Marianas islands as the location for Lugnagg.
The location for Lagado on Balnibarbi is obscure, however; a general region cannot even be inferred.

Last thoughts?

I personally found Gulliver's Travels quite enjoyable. It's probably the best book I have read this year for communications. Swift does a great job in keeping the readers entertained, with all his jokes (love the bathroom joke especially.) It was also quite interesting to see how much information that I learned from AP European History came up in this book. Every couple chapters, I could find an allusion to some historical person or event that we learned in Euro. The reason I choose this book was because Japan was mentioned in on of the chapter names (interested in Japan.) But thanks to that, I was able to read such a great book. If I gave it a rating on a scale of 1 to 10, I would give it a 9 out of 10.

AP Lit Prompt Again

1995. Writers often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using characters who are alienated from that culture or society because of gender, race, class, or creed. Choose a novel or a play in which such a character plays a significant role and show how that character's alienation reveals the surrounding society's assumptions or moral values.

After a great shipwreck that caused Gulliver to wash ashore on Lilliput, he is brought into the capital city. Gulliver noticed that these Lilliputians are very small compared to him. In the beginning of his capture, he makes it seem that he is hungry, seeing what the Lilliputians would do. The Lilliputians grabbed him food and wine, making sure he isn't starved. They even climbed his giant body despite their small bodies. The Lilliputians are seen as a race that helps those when needed, they would not let one suffer without a reason. As Gulliver continues to stay with them, he progressively discovers new things. For example, the Lilliputians despise right angles, which is the fundamental basis of all house designs. Instead, the Lilliputians build their houses in very weird shapes because the builders do not build right angles. They also speak oddly, using geometric shapes to describe women, things, and animals. Those are some of the things about the Lilliput's society.

AP Lit Prompt

1991. Many plays and novels use contrasting places to represent opposed forces or ideas that are central to the meaning of the work. Choose a novel or play that contrasts two such places. Write an essay explaining how the places differ, what each place represents, and how their contrast contributes to the meaning of the work.

Gulliver's adventures begins in Lilliput, where the inhabitants are very small in size. Being much taller than the rest of the inhabitants, he is chained and brought into the capital city. But as he continues to learn more and more about the Lilliputians, he starts becoming friends with them. He helps the Lilliputians but defeating the Blefuscu, who started a war against Lilliput. But one another voyage, he stumbles upon the land of giants called Brobdingnag. Here, he is the one, that is smaller than everyone. Even though the people in Brobdingnag are quite larger than he is, they are still friendly. The people here know nothing about politics, not even the king. Between these two places, it is apparent that size of one does not matter. It is just like one of the possible themes within the book, physical power versus moral righteousness, which is one of the central ideas of the book.

A Gruesome Reality

If we, as humans, truly are as greedy and selfish as Gulliver's Houyhuhnm master has made us out to be how much would the world change if we were to begin to change?  What if we had this same sort of Enlightening moment as Gulliver? Is the comparison of humans to Yahoo's accurate? Has it been used to simply add satire to the book? (obviously).

AP Prompt

One of the AP Prompts that I found:

"2009, Form B. Many works of literature deal with political or social issues. Choose a novel or play that focuses on a political or social issue. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the author uses literary elements to explore this issue and explain how the issue contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot."

To quickly summarize, the entire book revolves around the political and social ineptness of humans (specifically the English).  Swift furthers the meaning of this by using his ever famous satire in every one of Gulliver's Travels.  The size and backwardness of the Lilliputians, the gigantic size and the simplicity of the government of the Brobdingnagians, how utterly lost the inhabitants of Laputa are, and the reversal of the expected roles of the Houyhuhnms and the Yahoos.

The Ultimate belief

Gulliver has had many encounters with civilizations of strange culture. One of his strangest encounters was with the Houyhnhnms,  a breed of intelligent horses. Despite the absurdity in this travel, Gulliver actually develops a whole new perception of mankind; he thinks that humans are all savage and greedy beasts! This revelation completely transforms Gulliver in a way that he now believes that his own species has been feeding him lies and corrupting his mind with false notions of government and patriotic nationalism to his barbaric country.

Horses above Humans?

When Gulliver arrives at the Land of the Houyhnhnms, things start to become very strange. First, Gulliver encounters these beasts (Yahoos) that try and kill him, yet the inhabitants that come and save him are intelligent horses! Later, Gulliver tells the Houyhnhnms that the Yahoos are the dominant race where he comes from which suggests that the Yahoos are human-like. The Houyhnhnm-horses tell Gulliver that they are far more superior to the Yahoos and the Yahoos are like slave-animals. This scenario kind of reminds me of Planet of the Apes where the primates become stronger, both physically and mentally than the humans. It is as if society had reversed on this island where animals are the sophisticated "humans" and the humans are "animals."

Possible Theme For Gulliver's Travels

Physical power or moral righteousness is a theme found in Gulliver's Travels. Gulliver has the upper hand in physical power as he is considered a giant in Lilliput. Gulliver was able to defeat the Blefuscudian navy due to his immense size. But once he got to Brobdingnag, it was all different. Gulliver is the one being harassed because of his size. Everything in Brobdingnag was larger than him. Besides the physical powers of one, there is also the power based on moral righteousness. The Blefuscu and Lilliput are different, not just a cultural difference, but also in their interpretation of their holy book. Through the differences of their holy books, war sparked. Moral superiority and physical power are both hard to justify to dominate others in the end.

Chapter 1, Part 7-8 Summary

Part 7

Gulliver prepares to leave for his trip to Blefuscu, but a court official tells him that he has been charged with treason by enemies in the government. Gulliver is charged with public urination, refusing to obey the emperor's orders to seize the remaining Blefuscu ships, aiding enemy ambassadors, and traveling to Blefuscu. In fear of his execution, he swiftly leaves for Blefuscu.

Part 8

Gulliver finds a boat his size which he asks the emperor of Blefuscu to let him fix up. But the emperor of Lilliput also sends an envoy with the articles about Gulliver's eyesight. The emperor of Blefuscu sends it back saying that Gulliver will shortly leave both kingdoms. After a month, the boat is ready and he sets sail off back to England.

Chapter 1, Part 6 Summary

Gulliver goes off to talk about the customs and practices of Lilliput more in detail. The Lilliputian's eyesight are adapted to the size, the animals, trees, and plants, etc. The Lilliputians are very well educated but the writing system seems off to Gulliver. The dead is buried with their heads down, as the Lilliputians believe that the dead will eventually rise on the earth again. Also, the children are not raised by individual parents, but by the kingdom. They are sent from home to live in schools and only see their parents twice a year.

Chapter 1, Parts 4-5 Summary

Part 4

After being freed from his chains, Gulliver goes to Mildendo, the capital city of the Lilliputians. The emperor wants him to see the magnificence of his palace, which is located in the center of the city. After 2 weeks of regaining his freedom, the government official, Reldresal visits him and tells him that two forces are threatening the kingdom. As the war rages on between the two nations, Gulliver is asked for assistance to defend Lilliput against their enemies. Gulliver does not feel that he should intervene but in the end, still offers his help to the emperor.

Part 5

Gulliver goes and spies on the empire of Blefuscu and helps devise a plan. He asks for cables and bars of iron, which he makes hooks with cables attached. He then swims the channel and catches their ships at port. While in Lilliput, Gulliver is greeted as a hero, saving their empire. 3 weeks later, someone from Blefuscu arrives in Lilliput and surrenders.

Chapter 1, Part 2-3 Summary

Part 2

The Lilliputians chain Gulliver to the building in the Capital city where he is finally able to stand up. He gets a view of the countryside and how beautiful it is. Gulliver then goes on about describing this process of relieving himself, which establishes his cleanliness. The emperor visits on horseback from his tower and orders the his servant to give Gulliver food and drink. He and Gulliver strike a conversation but do not seem to understand each other. He saves 6 brigadier who attempted to shoot arrows at him, pleasing the court which led to Gulliver getting his own bed. His belongings are also taken away in a search.

Part 3

As Gulliver hopes to be set free, he is getting along well with the Lilliputians. The emperor entertains him with a rope show and also using 3 silken threads of different colors for this show. Gulliver's hat washed ashore that was discovered by some Lilliputians. Gulliver asks them to bring back his hat but after that, the emperor asked Gulliver to stand tall and pose like a giant. At the end, Gulliver's free but has to first swear to obey the articles put forth. He agrees to these statements and he is freed.

Chapter 1, Part 1 Summary

Lemuel Gulliver, the main character of the story, begins be recounting the story of his life, first, with his family history. Gulliver's father owned a small estate in Nottinghamshire and Guillver is the third of five sons. When he was young, he was sent off to become a surgeon's apprentice because of his families financial problems. When he becomes a surgeon, he boards a ship called Swallow for 3 years and then settles in London and gets married. He then joins another ship called the Antelope, but in the East Indies, the ship is caught out in a violent storm which led to 12 crewmen dying, and 6 crew members left on a small rowboat which soon capsizes. When Gulliver wakes, he finds himself tied and looking up into the bright sun, to see a 6-inch tall human carrying a bow and arrow. The little people start attacking him once he broke lose and waits for a chance to escape. Gulliver is then carried to the capital city, not being able to escape from the little people.

Writing Style

Jonathan Swift brings quite an absurd writing style for "Gulliver's Travels". A lot of Swift's humor comes from his surprising twists and turns as a writer. Gulliver spends a lot of his time dwelling on minor disgressions, such as how he arranges to pee when he is kept inside a giant's home during his first night in Brobdingnag (shmoop). Throughout the entire book, there were numerous bathroom jokes mentioned. It keeps the readers interested in what is about to happen next. Here are two examples of his nice bathroom joke and an interesting line:

• I hope the gentle reader will excuse me for dwelling on these and the like particulars, which, however insignificant they may appear to groveling vulgar minds, yet will certainly help a philosopher to enlarge his thoughts and imagination, and apply them to the benefit of public as well as private life, which was my sole design in presenting this and other accounts of my travels to the world; wherein I have been chiefly studious of truth, without affecting any ornaments of learning or of style. (2.1.16)

• But my good master Bates dying in two years after, and I having few friends, my business began to fail; for my conscience would not suffer me to imitate the bad practice of too many among my brethren. (1. 1. 4)

Parody in Chapter 3

Gulliver's Travels parodies the whole genre of the traveler's tale, but the book includes many examples of parodic language. One example is from chapter 3 of the book.

• By means of this loadstone, the island is made to rise and fall, and move from one place to another. For, with respect to that part of the earth over which the monarch presides, the stone is endued at one of its sides with an attractive power, and at the other with a repulsive. Upon placing the magnet erect, with its attracting end towards the earth, the island descends; but when the repelling extremity points downwards, the island mounts directly upwards. When the position of the stone is oblique, the motion of the island is so too: for in this magnet, the forces always act in lines parallel to its direction. (3.3.5)

Gulliver is describing how the earth is attracted on one side and repulsed by another that causes the island of Laputa to move using his giant magnet. Gulliver is using the formal mathematical and scientific language like attraction and repulsion. This sort of language is not really seen in any of Gulliver's regular descriptions of things. It sounds too difficult for Guillver to be saying these words.

Immortality

The Struldbrugs of Laputa have the very unique opportunity/chance of being immortal.   "that sometimes, though very rarely, a child happened to be born in a family, with a red circular spot in the forehead, directly over the left eyebrow, which was an infallible mark that it should never die" (153).  As Gulliver discovered it is more of a curse than a blessing.  The Struldbrugs were prone to depression, I mean who wouldn't be if you were watching loved ones die around you but you could not die too.  Swift uses satirizes the English culture/views on immortality by implicitly saying that it is better to seize each day than to live for ever depressed.  On each of his travels, Gulliver has learn something from the inhabitants of country which he visits, which he then brings back to compare to similar aspects in England.

Advanced Technology and Specious Hypotheses of the Balnibarbians

Some technology of the inhabitants of Balnibarbi are truly magnificent wonders for their age. Other research is simply catastrophic.

It's worth noticing that Swift has a knack for predicting future discoveries and innovations. The telescopes mentioned used by the Laputans are three feet long, about the same size as many consumer-mid range telescopes. These have the range to clearly see the rings of Saturn and the individual moons of Jupiter and probably have the capability to see many of the major stars in constellations of the cosmos.

Another peculiar future-telling discovery mentioned in the book by the Laputans is the presence of two moons orbiting around Mars. While we know these as Phobos and Deimos today, these two moons were not discovered until 1877 by Asaph Hall, a little more than 150 years after Swift published Gulliver's Travels in 1726. They do not orbit in the same resonance frequencies as described in the book, however (in fact, Phobos is on a crash course with Mars, while Deimos is slowly inching away much alike our Moon), but it is a remarkable coincidence in literature.

Magnetic levitation, another prediction that we have only managed to accomplish on a small scale with high-speed Maglev trains (German ICE, French TGV, Japanese Shinkansen), powers the floating force of Laputa. It is rather fascinating to see a 7,000-yard object propel itself across a small radius within which the inhabitants of Balnibarbi live.

Of course, the "practicality" of Balnibarbians results in unexpected experiments, many of which can be noted at the Lagado academy. Capturing beams of sunlight for consumption by cucumbers, reassembling excrement to its original form, ice to gunpowder, color from touch and smell, cultivation with swine, and building houses from the roof down are some of the absurd experiments the Balinbarbians have managed to begin and fund.

Enlightened Laputans

Despite the utter confusion and disaster of the people of Balnibarbi, several characters can be noted to have somewhat sensible orientations of thought, manner, and process, who thus may be considered compared to the general population as "enlightened."

The first "enlightened" individual Gulliver encounters is one of the lords of the Laputan court. While he shows no aptitude or skill in the traits that Laputans value, he shows considerable attention and wisdom in his mannerisms. He does not require servants to direct his center of attention and intelligibly remarks on Gulliver's explanations of European politics and affairs, of which he shows marked interest in.

The second, and most notable individual, which may be referred to as an "enlightened" figure is Lord Munodi. Of Lagado, he and a few other conservative citizens are the only sane people of the city. His well-cultivated plantation compared to the miserable crop of the countryside, the formal and sturdy construction of the manor compared to the wretched, drooping shacks of careless building, and his cleanly clothed self compared to the ragged strips of the common citizen express a high level of sanity.

In accordance with Plato's Allegory of the Cave in his The Republic, Lord Munodi and others who have also reverted to older customs of living are the "enlightened" individuals, alike the Laputan lord equally scorned upon by the general population (the remaining inhabitants of the cave). While it is strange to think that conservatism be enlightened in comparison to reform, it is the misconception of reform equates to progress that the majority of Balnibarbians hold that led the population to living in a state of utter squalor and dereliction.

Laputian Abnormalities

Laputian society, in contrast to the Lilliputian and Brobdingnagian that Swift has already encountered, is even stranger than the latter two. This may seem like a rather philistine statement (having yet only read two chapters of the section), but it is worth mentioning first that the name "Laputa" in Spanish ("la puta") means "whore" or "prostitute," an utterly insulting case of dramatic irony for the Laputians.

The customs of Laputian society are laughable and are rather ludicrous. In order to speak, a small vessel (of what is described as a "bladder" by Gulliver) containing pebbles and peas hanging off a stick is tapped on the mouth of the speaker and the ear of the member of the directed audience. These bumbling lumps of bobbleheads lean either left or right. Perhaps that is why they have the attention span of flies and focus only on the pragmatic, which certainly (warning: dripping with sarcasm) explains why despite their mathematical and musical aptitude and habit of complimenting women with geometric shapes, the Laputians cannot even build simple geometric designs, measure correctly, or build houses with right angles.

As this is part of a satirical work, it must be mocking a certain party; I cannot possibly imagine of any dimensions the sort that Swift is trying to parody here.

Allusions

Just a few of the allusions I've found:
"instructing princes to know their true interest" (138)  Machiavelli's  The Prince??
"Alexander the Great" (145)  not dead by poison??
"Hannibal" (145) something to do with vinegar?
"Caesar and Brutus" (145)

• "that his ancestor Junius, Socrates, Epaminondas, Cato the younger, Sir Thomas More, and himself were perpetually together"  Brutus

"Homer and Aristotle" (146)
"Descartes and Gassendi" (146)
"Roman emperors" (146)
"Heliogabalus" (146)
"Polydore Virgil" (147)  Virgil


Kinda cool seeing stuff from Euro in Swift's work.
(Easy allusions when the dead are summoned by a ?Necromancer?)

Laputian Confusion?

Can anyone help me make sense of this:

"By this oblique motion, the island is conveyed to different parts of the monarch’s dominions.  To explain the manner of its progress, let A B represent a line drawn across the dominions of Balnibarbi, let the line c d represent the loadstone, of which let d be the repelling end, and c the attracting end, the island being over C: let the stone be placed in position c d, with its repelling end downwards; then the island will be driven upwards obliquely towards D.  When it is arrived at D, let the stone be turned upon its axle, till its attracting end points towards E, and then the island will be carried obliquely towards E; where, if the stone be again turned upon its axle till it stands in the position E F, with its repelling point downwards, the island will rise obliquely towards F, where, by directing the attracting end towards G, the island may be carried to G, and from G to H, by turning the stone, so as to make its repelling extremity to point directly downward.  And thus, by changing the situation of the stone, as often as there is occasion, the island is made to rise and fall by turns in an oblique direction, and by those alternate risings and fallings (the obliquity being not considerable) is conveyed from one part of the dominions to the other." (125)

I've read it a few times and it just has my head spinning in circles.  I'm also still slightly confused how the island actually moves, up to this point I've essentially just been like, "ok... it moves. moving on....".

Laputan Women

Perhaps the most surprising thing about the society of Laputa is how lenient they are socially.  As near as I can tell Gulliver does not seem to enticed by these sometimes desperate women.

"The women of the island have abundance of vivacity: they, contemn their husbands, and are exceedingly fond of strangers, whereof there is always a considerable number from the continent below, attending at court, either upon affairs of the several towns and corporations, or their own particular occasions, but are much despised, because they want the same endowments.  Among these the ladies choose their gallants: but the vexation is, that they act with too much ease and security; for the husband is always so rapt in speculation, that the mistress and lover may proceed to the greatest familiarities before his face." (122).

It seems that the women of Laputa are rather active as they likely never get a change in scenery, if you know what I mean, on a flying island.  Swift seems to be magnifying the errors in European to shed new light on their habits, the fact that the husband essentially turns a blind eye would be very surprising as the man in the relationship is allowed to have a mistress but a woman cannot cheat on her husband.  This fact is further expressed when Gulliver goes on to explain when women have the chance to get off  Laputa they take it.

The Language of Science and Music

The speech on Laputa as described by Gulliver required his "knowledge...in mathematics" to understand.

The knowledge I had in mathematics, gave me great assistance in acquiring their phraseology, which depended much upon that science, and music; and in the latter I was not unskilled.  Their ideas are perpetually conversant in lines and figures.  If they would, for example, praise the beauty of a woman, or any other animal, they describe it by rhombs, circles, parallelograms, ellipses, and other geometrical terms, or by words of art drawn from music, needless here to repeat.  I observed in the king’s kitchen all sorts of mathematical and musical instruments, after the figures of which they cut up the joints that were served to his majesty’s table. (120)

I find it very hard to praise something using geometrical shapes and music.  But I guess after seeing extremely short laws this is not that surprising.  Also it is interesting how these are used for praising "the beauty of a woman, or any other animal", almost "animal-izing" or objectifying women, which would fit the setting of the book but would be largely unaccepted now-a-days.

Possible Locations of Lilliput and Brobdingnag

Throughout Gulliver's journeys so far, he managed to record and redraw the shapes and relative locations of Lilliput and Brobdingnag. Here are examples of each:

Lilliput:


Brobdingnag:


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I theorize that the possible location of Lilliput might be the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, due to their closeness to the Indonesian island of Sumatra as shown in the cartography for Lilliput. What also convinces me that the Keeling Islands is the best location is that the region consists of two islands; the North Keeling Island and South Keeling Island. This may represent the two islands of Lilliput and Blefuscu, Lilliput being the southern island.

Sumatra in the real world is the island that Palembang is located in

Regarding Brobdingnag, I think that the region of Alaska would best fit its description. Alaska has a very mountainous terrain that somewhat separates it from Canada/North America, which is similar to the condition of Brobdingnag. Also, Alaska is a very large area, which might likely explain why Gulliver thought it was a place for giants since it is so big compared to the rest of North America. Lastly, Alaska is also peninsula-shaped to the left side, which is similar to how Brobdingnag is oriented in its cartography.
Here is a side by side comparison:

Brobdingnag is near the top left corner