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Gulliver’s Travels

Jonathan Swift

Start date: October 1, 2019

Finish date: October 31, 2019

Discussion: Old School Classics, Pre-1915

Discussion leader: Katy

Why we're reading this: Revisit the Shelf Group Read, October 2019

Previous Group Reads:
Book of the Month, January 2011
Revisit the…more
[close] Revisit the Shelf Group Read, October 2019

Previous Group Reads:
Book of the Month, January 2011
Revisit the Shelf Group Read, September 2013

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Old School Classics, Pre-1915

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What Members Thought

Mar 17, 2019 Kelly_Hunsaker_reads ... rated it really liked it

Shelves: 1001-books, read-in-2019, classics, satire

I am not generally a fan of satire, but the way that Swift told his story made it feel more similar to an adventure story than satire. And yet, I was also quite thrilled that such an old book could feel so modern in its commentary on society. The book isn't necessarily a fun read and in some places it feels too repetitive. However, that repetition really emphasizes the ridiculousness of prejudice. In the end I liked the book and I am glad that I read it. ...more

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Sep 15, 2017 Maggie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: guardian-1000, boxall-1001, fiction, fantasy, adventure, classics, satire, irish

Gulliver is a surgeon who goes on various voyages. This book recounts four trips, during all of which he was shipwrecked or stranded or otherwise left alone on an island to fend for himself. His first adventure is to Lilliput, where people are 6 inches tall. His second trip is to Brobdingnag, where they are giants. His third is to Laputa and various other islands, where the king governs from an island floating aboveground. The fourth is to the land of the Houyhnhnms, where horses rule and the hu Gulliver is a surgeon who goes on various voyages. This book recounts four trips, during all of which he was shipwrecked or stranded or otherwise left alone on an island to fend for himself. His first adventure is to Lilliput, where people are 6 inches tall. His second trip is to Brobdingnag, where they are giants. His third is to Laputa and various other islands, where the king governs from an island floating aboveground. The fourth is to the land of the Houyhnhnms, where horses rule and the humans, or Yahoos, are brutish animals.

I was surprised to find that this book was not the children's tale I remembered it to be. It seems most of our abridged versions only recount Parts 1 and 2, and then only the adventure/fantasy elements of it. In reality, this book is a satirical social and political commentary, using various techniques including comparisons of English and European cultures to other cultures, comparisons of humans to other beings, dialogues, and the narrator's observations.

The number of things that Swift mocks is vast. He has passages against politicians, doctors, lawyers, against the system of law, the court of justice, and systems of governments of his time. He ridicules flummery, the self-importance of unimportant people, and wars fought for ambiguous motives. He parodies jargon by including passages packed with nautical and mathematical jargon, which the average layman is not expected to understand. And in a memorable chapter about Laputa, he mocks scientific experiments with no practical use by describing an Academy of people doing things like extracting sunbeams out of cucumbers. Many of these experiments were apparently inspired by real experiments.

The last trip describes a utopian land. The Houyhnhnms are horses who are perfectly virtuous. They practise truth and righteousness, and evil is so far from them that they do not have words to describe falsehood or evil. The only evil in their land is the Yahoos, an uncivilised tribe of human-like creatures. In this land, Gulliver practically worships the Houyhnhnms, and in talking to his Master Houyhnhnm he goes on at length about the vices of humans. He grows to be so ashamed of humans that he cannot bear to look at himself in the mirror, and when he eventually returns to England he cannot stand the odour of his own family for five years. Gulliver barely says a word against the Houyhnhnms, yet I found this section the most troubling of the book. The Houyhnhnms are devoid of real love or happiness or grief or anger. In becoming like that, Gulliver loses his humanity and becomes little more than a self-righteous horse, who still has all the foolish pride of a man. Swift seems to be saying, why try to imitate who you are not, instead of being content with who God has created you to be?

The end of my copy of the book has an essay by George Orwell, inw hich he disagrees with many of Swift's ideas, saying that Swift was depressed, disillusioned and disgusted with the human body. I however don't think Swift actually believed many of the things he wrote. His tone is more ironical, sarcastic and satirical. The straight-talking narration invites reflection by the reader, while still clearly showing Swift's moralistic ideals. ...more

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