If you are insterested in my presentation on June 20th I would suggest reading this short summary of the four voyages of Gulliver. It will help you to understand what I am going to talk about, as I will mainly refer to the cultural influences on this writing.
Shot Plot:
Gulliver’s Travels recounts the story of
Lemuel Gulliver, a practical-minded Englishman trained as a surgeon who takes
to the seas when his business fails. In a deadpan first-person narrative that
rarely shows any signs of self-reflection or deep emotional response, Gulliver
narrates the adventures that befall him on these travels.
Gulliver’s adventure in Lilliput begins when he wakes after his
shipwreck to find himself bound by innumerable tiny threads and addressed by
tiny captors who are in awe of him but fiercely protective of their kingdom.
They are not afraid to use violence against Gulliver, though their arrows are
little more than pinpricks. But overall, they are hospitable, risking famine in
their land by feeding Gulliver, who consumes more food than a thousand
Lilliputians combined could. Gulliver is taken into the capital city by a vast
wagon the Lilliputians have specially built. He is presented to the emperor,
who is entertained by Gulliver, just as Gulliver is flattered by the attention
of royalty. Eventually Gulliver becomes a national resource, used by the army
in its war against the people of Blefuscu, whom the Lilliputians hate for
doctrinal differences concerning the proper way to crack eggs. But things
change when Gulliver is convicted of treason for putting out a fire in the
royal palace with his urine and is condemned to be shot in the eyes and starved
to death. Gulliver escapes to Blefuscu, where he is able to repair a boat he
finds and set sail for England.
After staying in England with his wife and family for two months,
Gulliver undertakes his next sea voyage, which takes him to a land of giants
called Brobdingnag. Here, a field worker discovers him. The farmer initially
treats him as little more than an animal, keeping him for amusement. The farmer
eventually sells Gulliver to the queen, who makes him a courtly diversion and
is entertained by his musical talents. Social life is easy for Gulliver after
his discovery by the court, but not particularly enjoyable. Gulliver is often
repulsed by the physicality of the Brobdingnagians, whose ordinary flaws are
many times magnified by their huge size. Thus, when a couple of courtly ladies
let him play on their naked bodies, he is not attracted to them but rather
disgusted by their enormous skin pores and the sound of their torrential
urination. He is generally startled by the ignorance of the people here—even
the king knows nothing about politics. More unsettling findings in Brobdingnag
come in the form of various animals of the realm that endanger his life. Even
Brobdingnagian insects leave slimy trails on his food that make eating
difficult. On a trip to the frontier, accompanying the royal couple, Gulliver
leaves Brobdingnag when his cage is plucked up by an eagle and dropped into the
sea.
Next, Gulliver sets sail again and, after an attack by pirates, ends up
in Laputa, where a floating island inhabited by theoreticians and academics
oppresses the land below, called Balnibarbi. The scientific research undertaken
in Laputa and in Balnibarbi seems totally inane and impractical, and its
residents too appear wholly out of touch with reality. Taking a short side trip
to Glubbdubdrib, Gulliver is able to witness the conjuring up of figures from
history, such as Julius Caesar and other military leaders, whom he finds much
less impressive than in books. After visiting the Luggnaggians and the
Struldbrugs, the latter of which are senile immortals who prove that age does
not bring wisdom, he is able to sail to Japan and from there back to England.
Finally, on his fourth journey, Gulliver sets out as captain of a ship,
but after the mutiny of his crew and a long confinement in his cabin, he
arrives in an unknown land. This land is populated by Houyhnhnms,
rational-thinking horses who rule, and by Yahoos, brutish humanlike creatures
who serve the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver sets about learning their language, and when
he can speak he narrates his voyages to them and explains the constitution of
England. He is treated with great courtesy and kindness by the horses and is
enlightened by his many conversations with them and by his exposure to their
noble culture. He wants to stay with the Houyhnhnms, but his bared body reveals
to the horses that he is very much like a Yahoo, and he is banished. Gulliver
is grief-stricken but agrees to leave. He fashions a canoe and makes his way to
a nearby island, where he is picked up by a Portuguese ship captain who treats
him well, though Gulliver cannot help now seeing the captain—and all humans—as
shamefully Yahoolike. Gulliver then concludes his narrative with a claim that
the lands he has visited belong by rights to England, as her colonies, even
though he questions the whole idea of colonialism.
(This is taken from the page cited at the end of this document)
