Cltoriile lui Gulliver de Jonathan Swift (rezumat)

Gulliver era al treilea dintre cei cinci copii,i tria n provincia Nottingham.
La paisprezece ani, tatl su l trimite la Universitatea Cambridge. St acolo
trei ani,cu olos,dar studiile erau prea costisitoare,aa c a ost trimis ca
ucenic la !ac" #ates,chirurg celebru din Londra,unde rm$ne patru ani. %atl
su i trimite ceva bnu&i,pe care i olosete pentru a studia naviga&ia i
matematica. Una din propunerile lui Gulliver era s cltoreasc pe mare. 'l
prsete pe domnul #ates,se ntoarce la tatl su,iar cu banii primi&i, pleac
la Le(de,unde timp de doi ani i apte luni nva& medicina.Se ntoarce
din Le(de i capt un loc de chirurg pe vasul )$ndunica,unde st trei ani
i *umtate sub ordinele cpitanului +braham ,anell,comandantul vasului.La
ntoarcere se stabilete n Londra i se cstorete cu domnioara -ar(
#urton.-oare proesorul su #ates iar clientela sa ncepe s se rreasc..ace
mai multe cltorii timp de ase ani.'n prima cltorie,Gulliver este singurul
supravie&uitor al unui nauragiu pe &rmul unei insule,unde constat c este
prizonier al unei rase de oameni nal&i de /0 cm,locuitori ai unor insule
vecine,Liliput i #leuscu.Gulliver promite inten&ii panice i *ur credin&
mpratului liliputanilor i observ obiceiurile i moravurile locale ,total
neobinuite pentru el.1biceiurile liliputane se aseamn oarte mult cu cele
engleze i sunt prezentate p$n la limita absurdului.Se remarc i dieren&a
dintre purtarea tocurilor nalte i a tocurilor *oase.1bserv toate intrigile de
la curte,corup&ia i capriciile mpratului,care i spune cu m$ndrie 2stp$nul
universului3.Gulliver i a*ut pe liliputani s i nving pe locuitorii din
#leuscu,bloc$ndu4le lota n port cu o singur m$n, ns nu este de acord
ca poporul vecin s ie adus n stare de sclavie.5up o serie de
peripe&ii,Gulliver se ntoarce acas cu a*utorul unei alupe de dimensiuni
normale.
Urmeaz cltoria n #robdingnag,unde Gulliver gsete uriai de 66 m cu
un mod de via& total dierit dec$t cel al liliputanilor.+cetia erau mult mai
ra&ionali iar monarhia de aici era o orm de guvernm$nt ideal, unde regele
era n&elept i drept.+veau legi care asigurau libertatea i bunstarea
cet&enilor.)egele,panic din ire,nu dorete ca n &ara sa s ie introduse
praul de puc,putile i tunurile.C$nd i sunt descrise rzboaiele din
7uropa,regele se ngrozete.'n timpul unei cltorii pe mare,barca lui
Gulliver este luat n gheare de un vultur gigant i apoi abandonat,ns este
salvat de o corabie i astel se ntoarce din nou n +nglia.
Cltoria n Laputa este o nou e8perien& pentru Gulliver.Locuitorii din
Laputa se consider savan&i,parc nu ar tri pe pm$nt,sunt arogan&i i
nchipui&i,parc ar tri pe o insul zburtoare.+utorul ne descrie tiin&a rupt
de realitate.1amenii de aici se ocup cu tot elul de lucruri inutile i
absurde,cum ar i9e8tragerea razelor de soare din castrave&i,construirea
caselor ncep$nd cu acoperiul i termin$nd cu temelia.
'n ultima cltorie,Gulliver a*unge pe o insul cu o popula&ie oarte
ciudat,care se mparte n dou categorii9o parte a popula&iei este alctuit
din hou(hnhnms,cai nzestra&i cu ra&iune i puterea de a vorbi,iar cealalt
parte a popula&iei din iin&e (ahoo,asemenea oamenilor,dar primitivi i
brutali,lacomi,rutcioi,invidioi,care se ceart i se bat ntre ei pentru a
str$nge c$t mai multe pietre strlucitoare inutile,pe care le credeau
pre&ioase.Caii sunt virtuoi i n&elep&i,triesc ntr4o comun patriarhal,nu
pot n&elege ce este minciuna.
Gulliver se ntoarce n +nglia,ns nimeni nu4i crede povestirile sale,iind
oarte rece chiar cu nevasta i rudele.1amenii i ac proces i l declar
nebun iresponsabil.7ste salvat de un miel adus din Liliput,care modiic
decizia *udectorilor.'ncet4ncet,Gulliver se schimb,devenind un om ca to&i
oamenii,dei tot pu&in cam mizantrop.
la /:90;
Gullivers Travels was a controversial work when it was first published in 1726. In fact, it was
not until almost ten years after its first printing that the book appeared with the entire text that
wift had originally intended it to have. !ver since, editors have excised many of the
passages, particularly the more caustic ones dealing with bodily functions. !ven without
those passages, however, Gullivers Travelsserves as a biting satire, and wift ensures that
it is both humorous and critical, constantly attacking "ritish and !uropean society through its
descriptions of imaginary countries.
#ate in life, wift seemed to many observers to become even more caustic and bitter than he
had been. $hree years before his death, he was declared unable to care for himself, and
guardians were appointed. "ased on these facts and on a comparison between wift%s fate
and that of his character &ulliver, some people have concluded that he gradually became
insane and that his insanity was a natural outgrowth of his indignation and outrage against
humankind. 'owever, the truth seems to be that wift was suddenly incapacitated by a
paralytic stroke late in life, and that prior to this incident his mental capacities were
unimpaired.
Gullivers Travels is about a specific set of political conflicts, but if it were nothing more than
that it would long ago have been forgotten. $he staying power of the work comes from its
depiction of the human condition and its often despairing, but occasionally hopeful, sketch of
the possibilities for humanity to rein in its baser instincts.
Themes
Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.
Might Versus Right
Gullivers Travels implicitly poses the (uestion of whether physical power or moral
righteousness should be the governing factor in social life. &ulliver experiences the
advantages of physical might both as one who has it, as a giant in #illiput where he can
defeat the "lefuscudian navy by virtue of his immense si)e, and as one who does not have
it, as a miniature visitor to "robdingnag where he is harassed by the hugeness of everything
from insects to household pets. 'is first encounter with another society is one of entrapment,
when he is physically tied down by the #illiputians* later, in "robdingnag, he is enslaved by a
farmer. 'e also observes physical force used against others, as with the 'ouyhnhnms%
chaining up of the +ahoos.
"ut alongside the use of physical force, there are also many claims to power based on moral
correctness. $he whole point of the egg controversy that has set #illiput against "lefuscu is
not merely a cultural difference but, instead, a religious and moral issue related to the proper
interpretation of a passage in their holy book. $his difference of opinion seems to ,ustify, in
their eyes at least, the warfare it has sparked. imilarly, the use of physical force against the
+ahoos is ,ustified for the 'ouyhnhnms by their sense of moral superiority- they are cleaner,
better behaved, and more rational. "ut overall, the novel tends to show that claims to rule on
the basis of moral righteousness are often ,ust as arbitrary as, and sometimes simply
disguises for, simple physical sub,ugation. $he #aputans keep the lower land of "alnibarbi in
check through force because they believe themselves to be more rational, even though we
might see them as absurd and unpleasant. imilarly, the ruling elite of "alnibarbi believes
itself to be in the right in driving #ord .unodi from power, although we perceive that .unodi
is the rational party. /laims to moral superiority are, in the end, as hard to ,ustify as the
random use of physical force to dominate others.
The Individual Versus Society
#ike many narratives about voyages to nonexistent lands, Gullivers Travelsexplores the idea
of utopia0an imaginary model of the ideal community. $he idea of a utopia is an ancient
one, going back at least as far as the description in 1lato%s Republic of a city2state governed
by the wise and expressed most famously in !nglish by $homas .ore%s Utopia. wift nods to
both works in his own narrative, though his attitude toward utopia is much more skeptical,
and one of the main aspects he points out about famous historical utopias is the tendency to
privilege the collective group over the individual. $he children of 1lato%s Republic are raised
communally, with no knowledge of their biological parents, in the understanding that this
system enhances social fairness. wift has the #illiputians similarly raise their offspring
collectively, but its results are not exactly utopian, since #illiput is torn by conspiracies,
,ealousies, and backstabbing.
$he 'ouyhnhnms also practice strict family planning, dictating that the parents of two
females should exchange a child with a family of two males, so that the male2to2female ratio
is perfectly maintained. Indeed, they come closer to the utopian ideal than the #illiputians in
their wisdom and rational simplicity. "ut there is something unsettling about the
'ouyhnhnms% indistinct personalities and about how they are the only social group that
&ulliver encounters who do not have proper names. 3espite minor physical differences, they
are all so good and rational that they are more or less interchangeable, without individual
identities. In their absolute fusion with their society and lack of individuality, they are in a
sense the exact opposite of &ulliver, who has hardly any sense of belonging to his native
society and exists only as an individual eternally wandering the seas. &ulliver%s intense grief
when forced to leave the 'ouyhnhnms may have something to do with his longing for union
with a community in which he can lose his human identity. In any case, such a union is
impossible for him, since he is not a horse, and all the other societies he visits make him feel
alienated as well.
Gullivers Travels could in fact be described as one of the first novels of modern alienation,
focusing on an individual%s repeated failures to integrate into societies to which he does not
belong. !ngland itself is not much of a homeland for &ulliver, and, with his surgeon%s
business unprofitable and his father%s estate insufficient to support him, he may be right to
feel alienated from it. 'e never speaks fondly or nostalgically about !ngland, and every time
he returns home, he is (uick to leave again. &ulliver never complains explicitly about feeling
lonely, but the embittered and antisocial misanthrope we see at the end of the novel is clearly
a profoundly isolated individual. $hus, if wift%s satire mocks the excesses of communal life,
it may also mock the excesses of individualism in its portrait of a miserable and lonely
&ulliver talking to his horses at home in !ngland.
The Limits of Human Understanding
$he idea that humans are not meant to know everything and that all understanding has a
natural limit is important in Gullivers Travels. wift singles out theoretical knowledge in
particular for attack- his portrait of the disagreeable and self2centered #aputans, who show
blatant contempt for those who are not sunk in private theori)ing, is a clear satire against
those who pride themselves on knowledge above all else. 1ractical knowledge is also
satiri)ed when it does not produce results, as in the academy of "alnibarbi, where the
experiments for extracting sunbeams from cucumbers amount to nothing. wift insists that
there is a realm of understanding into which humans are simply not supposed to venture.
$hus his depictions of rational societies, like "robdingnag and 'ouyhnhnmland, emphasi)e
not these people%s knowledge or understanding of abstract ideas but their ability to live their
lives in a wise and steady way.
$he "robdingnagian king knows shockingly little about the abstractions of political science,
yet his country seems prosperous and well governed. imilarly, the 'ouyhnhnms know little
about arcane sub,ects like astronomy, though they know how long a month is by observing
the moon, since that knowledge has a practical effect on their well2being. 4spiring to higher
fields of knowledge would be meaningless to them and would interfere with their happiness.
In such contexts, it appears that living a happy and well2ordered life seems to be the very
thing for which wift thinks knowledge is useful.
wift also emphasi)es the importance of self2understanding. &ulliver is initially remarkably
lacking in self2reflection and self2awareness. 'e makes no mention of his emotions,
passions, dreams, or aspirations, and he shows no interest in describing his own psychology
to us. 4ccordingly, he may strike us as frustratingly hollow or empty, though it is likely that his
personal emptiness is part of the overall meaning of the novel. "y the end, he has come
close to a kind of twisted self2knowledge in his deranged belief that he is a +ahoo. 'is
revulsion with the human condition, shown in his shabby treatment of the generous 3on
1edro, extends to himself as well, so that he ends the novel in a thinly disguised state of self2
hatred. wift may thus be saying that self2knowledge has its necessary limits ,ust as
theoretical knowledge does, and that if we look too closely at ourselves we might not be able
to carry on living happily.
Motifs
Motifs are recurring structures contrasts and literary devices that can help to develop and
inform the texts ma!or themes.
Excrement
5hile it may seem a trivial or laughable motif, the recurrent mention of excrement in
&ulliver%s $ravels actually has a serious philosophical significance in the narrative. It
symboli)es everything that is crass and ignoble about the human body and about human
existence in general, and it obstructs any attempt to view humans as wholly spiritual or
mentally transcendent creatures. ince the !nlightenment culture of eighteenth2century
!ngland tended to view humans optimistically as noble souls rather than vulgar bodies,
wift%s emphasis on the common filth of life is a slap in the face of the philosophers of his
day. $hus, when &ulliver urinates to put out a fire in #illiput, or when "robdingnagian flies
defecate on his meals, or when the scientist in #agado works to transform excrement back
into food, we are reminded how very little human reason has to do with everyday existence.
wift suggests that the human condition in general is dirtier and lowlier than we might like to
believe it is.
Foreign Languages
&ulliver appears to be a gifted linguist, knowing at least the basics of several !uropean
languages and even a fair amount of ancient &reek. $his knowledge serves him well, as he
is able to disguise himself as a 3utchman in order to facilitate his entry into 6apan, which at
the time only admitted the 3utch. "ut even more important, his linguistic gifts allow him to
learn the languages of the exotic lands he visits with a da))ling speed and, thus, gain access
to their culture (uickly. 'e learns the languages of the #illiputians, the "robdingnagians, and
even the neighing tongue of the 'ouyhnhnms. 'e is meticulous in recording the details of
language in his narrative, often giving the original as well as the translation. 7ne would
expect that such detail would indicate a cross2cultural sensitivity, a kind of anthropologist%s
awareness of how things vary from culture to culture. +et surprisingly, &ulliver%s mastery of
foreign languages generally does not correspond to any real interest in cultural differences.
'e compares any of the governments he visits to that of his native !ngland, and he rarely
even speculates on how or why cultures are different at all. $hus, his facility for translation
does not indicate a culturally comparative mind, and we are perhaps meant to yearn for a
narrator who is a bit less able to remember the "robdingnagian word for 8lark9 and better
able to offer a more illuminating kind of cultural analysis.
lothing
/ritics have noted the extraordinary attention that &ulliver pays to clothes throughout his
,ourneys. !very time he gets a rip in his shirt or is forced to adopt some native garment to
replace one of his own, he recounts the clothing details with great precision. 5e are told how
his pants are falling apart in #illiput, so that as the army marches between his legs they get
(uite an eyeful. 5e are informed about the mouse skin he wears in "robdingnag, and how
the finest silks of the land are as thick as blankets on him. In one sense, these descriptions
are obviously an easy narrative device with which wift can chart his protagonist%s
progression from one culture to another- the more ragged his clothes become and the
stranger his new wardrobe, the farther he is from the comforts and conventions of !ngland.
'is ,ourney to new lands is also thus a ,ourney into new clothes. 5hen he is picked up by
3on 1edro after his fourth voyage and offered a new suit of clothes, &ulliver vehemently
refuses, preferring his wild animal skins. 5e sense that &ulliver may well never fully
reintegrate into !uropean society.
"ut the motif of clothing carries a deeper, more psychologically complex meaning as well.
&ulliver%s intense interest in the state of his clothes may signal a deep2seated anxiety about
his identity, or lack thereof. 'e does not seem to have much selfhood- one critic has called
him an 8abyss,9 a void where an individual character should be. If clothes make the man,
then perhaps &ulliver%s obsession with the state of his wardrobe may suggest that he
desperately needs to be fashioned as a personality. ignificantly, the two moments when he
describes being naked in the novel are two deeply troubling or humiliating experiences- the
first when he is the boy toy of the "robdingnagian maids who let him cavort nude on their
mountainous breasts, and the second when he is assaulted by an eleven2year2old +ahoo girl
as he bathes. "oth incidents suggest more than mere prudery. &ulliver associates nudity
with extreme vulnerability, even when there is no real danger present0a pre2teen girl is
hardly a threat to a grown man, at least in physical terms. $he state of nudity may remind
&ulliver of how nonexistent he feels without the reassuring cover of clothing.
Symbols
"ymbols are ob!ects characters figures and colors used to represent abstract ideas or
concepts.
Lilli!utians
$he #illiputians symboli)e humankind%s wildly excessive pride in its own puny existence.
wift fully intends the irony of representing the tiniest race visited by &ulliver as by far the
most vainglorious and smug, both collectively and individually. $here is surely no character
more odious in all of &ulliver%s travels than the noxious kyresh. $here is more backbiting
and conspiracy in #illiput than anywhere else, and more of the pettiness of small minds who
imagine themselves to be grand. &ulliver is a na:ve consumer of the #illiputians% grandiose
imaginings- he is flattered by the attention of their royal family and cowed by their threats of
punishment, forgetting that they have no real physical power over him. $heir formally worded
condemnation of &ulliver on grounds of treason is a model of pompous and self2important
verbiage, but it works (uite effectively on the na:ve &ulliver.
$he #illiputians show off not only to &ulliver but to themselves as well. $here is no mention
of armies proudly marching in any of the other societies &ulliver visits0only in #illiput and
neighboring "lefuscu are the six2inch inhabitants possessed of the need to show off their
patriotic glories with such displays. 5hen the #illiputian emperor re(uests that &ulliver serve
as a kind of makeshift 4rch of $riumph for the troops to pass under, it is a pathetic reminder
that their grand parade0in full view of &ulliver%s nether regions0is supremely silly, a
basically absurd way to boost the collective ego of the nation. Indeed, the war with "lefuscu
is itself an absurdity springing from wounded vanity, since the cause is not a material
concern like disputed territory but, rather, the proper interpretation of scripture by the
emperor%s forebears and the hurt feelings resulting from the disagreement. 4ll in all, the
#illiputians symboli)e misplaced human pride, and point out &ulliver%s inability to diagnose it
correctly.
"ro#dingnagians
$he "robdingnagians symboli)e the private, personal, and physical side of humans when
examined up close and in great detail. $he philosophical era of the !nlightenment tended to
overlook the routines of everyday life and the sordid or tedious little facts of existence, but in
"robdingnag such facts become very important for &ulliver, sometimes matters of life and
death. 4n eighteenth2century philosopher could afford to ignore the fly bu))ing around his
head or the skin pores on his servant girl, but in his shrunken state &ulliver is forced to pay
great attention to such things. 'e is forced take the domestic sphere seriously as well. In
other lands it is difficult for &ulliver, being such an outsider, to get glimpses of family relations
or private affairs, but in "robdingnag he is treated as a doll or a plaything, and thus is made
privy to the urination of housemaids and the sexual lives of women. $he "robdingnagians do
not symboli)e a solely negative human characteristic, as the #aputans do. $hey are not
merely ridiculous0some aspects of them are disgusting, like their gigantic stench and the
excrement left by their insects, but others are noble, like the (ueen%s goodwill toward &ulliver
and the king%s commonsense views of politics. .ore than anything else, the "robdingnagians
symboli)e a dimension of human existence visible at close range, under close scrutiny.
La!utans
$he #aputans represent the folly of theoretical knowledge that has no relation to human life
and no use in the actual world. 4s a profound cultural conservative, wift was a critic of the
newfangled ideas springing up around him at the dawn of the eighteenth2century
!nlightenment, a period of great intellectual experimentation and theori)ation. 'e much
preferred the traditional knowledge that had been tested over centuries. #aputa symboli)es
the absurdity of knowledge that has never been tested or applied, the ludicrous side of
!nlightenment intellectualism. !ven down below in "alnibarbi, where the local academy is
more inclined to practical application, knowledge is not made socially useful as wift
demands. Indeed, theoretical knowledge there has proven positively disastrous, resulting in
the ruin of agriculture and architecture and the impoverishment of the population. !ven up
above, the pursuit of theoretical understanding has not improved the lot of the #aputans.
$hey have few material worries, dependent as they are upon the "alnibarbians below. "ut
they are tormented by worries about the tra,ectories of comets and other astronomical
speculations- their theories have not made them wise, but neurotic and disagreeable. $he
#aputans do not symboli)e reason itself but rather the pursuit of a form of knowledge that is
not directly related to the improvement of human life.
Houyhnhnms
$he 'ouyhnhnms represent an ideal of rational existence, a life governed by sense and
moderation of which philosophers since 1lato have long dreamed. Indeed, there are echoes
of 1lato%s Republic in the 'ouyhnhnms% re,ection of light entertainment and vain displays of
luxury, their appeal to reason rather than any holy writings as the criterion for proper action,
and their communal approach to family planning. 4s in 1lato%s ideal community, the
'ouyhnhnms have no need to lie nor any word for lying. $hey do not use force but only
strong exhortation. $heir sub,ugation of the +ahoos appears more necessary than cruel and
perhaps the best way to deal with an unfortunate blot on their otherwise ideal society. In
these ways and others, the 'ouyhnhnms seem like model citi)ens, and &ulliver%s intense
grief when he is forced to leave them suggests that they have made an impact on him
greater than that of any other society he has visited. 'is derangement on 3on 1edro%s ship,
in which he snubs the generous man as a +ahoo2like creature, implies that he strongly
identifies with the 'ouyhnhnms.
"ut we may be less ready than &ulliver to take the 'ouyhnhnms as ideals of human
existence. $hey have no names in the narrative nor any need for names, since they are
virtually interchangeable, with little individual identity. $heir lives seem harmonious and
happy, although (uite lacking in vigor, challenge, and excitement. Indeed, this apparent ease
may be why wift chooses to make them horses rather than human types like every other
group in the novel. 'e may be hinting, to those more insightful than &ulliver, that the
'ouyhnhnms should not be considered human ideals at all. In any case, they symboli)e a
standard of rational existence to be either espoused or re,ected by both &ulliver and us.
England
4s the site of his father%s disappointingly 8small estate9 and &ulliver%s failing business,
!ngland seems to symboli)e deficiency or insufficiency, at least in the financial sense that
matters most to &ulliver. !ngland is passed over very (uickly in the first paragraph of
/hapter I, as if to show that it is simply there as the starting point to be left (uickly behind.
&ulliver seems to have very few nationalistic or patriotic feelings about !ngland, and he
rarely mentions his homeland on his travels. In this sense, Gullivers Travels is (uite unlike
other travel narratives like the #dyssey in which 7dysseus misses his homeland and
laments his wanderings. !ngland is where &ulliver%s wife and family live, but they too are
hardly mentioned. +et wift chooses to have &ulliver return home after each of his four
,ourneys instead of having him continue on one long trip to four different places, so that
!ngland is kept constantly in the picture and given a steady, unspoken importance. "y the
end of the fourth ,ourney, !ngland is brought more explicitly into the fabric of Gullivers
Travels when &ulliver, in his neurotic state, starts confusing 'ouyhnhnmland with his
homeland, referring to !nglishmen as +ahoos. $he distinction between native and foreign
thus unravels0the 'ouyhnhnms and +ahoos are not ,ust races populating a faraway land
but rather types that &ulliver pro,ects upon those around him. $he possibility thus arises that
all the races &ulliver encounters could be versions of the !nglish and that his travels merely
allow him to see various aspects of human nature more clearly.