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Gullivers Travels

Gullivers Travels. By Jonathan Swift An Overview . Jonathan Swift. Lilliputs. Lilliputs are little, literally and morally Schism over which side of an egg to eat Suspicions and rivalries end in the Lilliputs spurning Gulliver.

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Gullivers Travels

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  1. Gullivers Travels By Jonathan Swift An Overview

  2. Jonathan Swift

  3. Lilliputs • Lilliputs are little, literally and morally • Schism over which side of an egg to eat • Suspicions and rivalries end in the Lilliputs spurning Gulliver. • Government officials gain jobs by creeping and leaping (i.e. sucking up or being opportunistic.)

  4. Brobdignags • Gulliver becomes a Lilliputian in Brogdignag • King is wise—sees through shallowness of people, especially G. and his descriptions of Europe • Gunpowder • King horrified that G. describes destruction in familiar manner insensitively • Gunpowder makes it possible to not face your enemy • More bang for your buck

  5. The Watchmaker God • B/c science (led by Newton) is systematizing the world, the Enlightenment brings with it a new conception of God as a watchmaker. He creates the world, winds it up like a watch, and sets it in motion. • Very different than a providential God who intercedes in peoples’ lives • Lilliputs are fascinated with Gulliver’s watch and King of Brogdignag wonders if Gulliver is a toy-like contraption • Are we just mechanisms/wound up clocks?

  6. Swift’s answer: hopefully not • Satire throws a monkey-wrench in the works. • Knowledge should be related to moral life, not just objective science. • This is the crux of Swift’s satire in Book III.

  7. Laputa and Lagado: philosophical speculation and practical science • Laputians are like astronomer in Rasselas: their heads are literally in the clouds • Flappers are needed to keep them alive b/c they ignore the exigencies of the real world • Women prefer to be treated poorly than to be ignored

  8. Flying Island • Flying island:Balnibarbi::ruler:ruled • England:Ireland • George III:America • Countrywide (mortgage industry):homebuyers • These relationships are defined by haughtiness, power, detachment and ruthlessness.

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