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.
Just like Cody has said earlier, the pattern of every section. Arrival, Meeting the inhabitants, acclamation, elevating conflicts and escape. With every acclamation to society comes more reflection of Gulliver on his views of society and how primitive it is compared to others of the world. How similar we are to the Yahoos are to humans.
ReplyDeleteTo answer the other part of the question or what each place represents, the Lilliputians are used to satirize specific events and people in Swift's life. Swift's model for Flimnap was Robert Walpole, who is the leader of the Whigs. Walpole was an extremely wily politician, so Swift made Flimnap the most dexterous of the rope dancers.
ReplyDeleteWhile I do not agree with the themes you presented as what the book's satire orbits around, I agree with your examples of polar opposites. Such pairs include Lilliput and Blefuscu, Lilliput and Brobdingnag, Gulliver's English society and the Yahoos on the Houyhnhnm island, and the Houyhnhnms and Yahoos. From these examples, it is quite easy to explain the methods the opposites differ - whether it is politics, social manner, or any other property - and determine the two societies that Swift is satirizing.
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