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.
This seems to be a question in which the book as a whole can be encompassed based on his alienation and exposure to many cultures and societies. The answer could easily be expanded to every section (travel).
ReplyDeleteYes, it is possible to expand this question and talk about each individual time he travels. Like the Brobdingnagians, Gulliver discovers that they are giants. Among these giants is goodwill and calm virtue. Their laws encourage charity. That is only part of it, but it is still able to expand even further.
ReplyDeleteAnother example of society's assumption of others is his introduction to the Houyhnhnms. When he first enters the society. the horses are astonished that Gulliver doesn't resemble the Yahoos of the island in several ways: he is of a different "skin" (i.e. fully clothed, not naked to the public) and he possesses common sense. Thus, it can be inferred that the horses despise the Yahoos, clearly evident in some fragments of their speech.
ReplyDeleteGulliver's introduction back to the world after his assimilation to the Houyhnhnms also follows a similar scheme as he meets his family with disgust, suggesting a completely different outlook on humans.