Gulliver and the Grotesque
The term scatological means to have an interest or preoccupation with the obscene. In his book, Gulliver’s Travels, it is hard to miss the various references that its author, Johnathan Swift, makes concerning bodily functions. Yet, this is more than the bawdy, juvenile toilet humor one would encounter in a cheeky T.V. show but has a literary purpose. Scatology is used to define the literary trope of the grotesque body. Through the realist perspective Swift employs scatology as a means of satire. This invokes Swift’s contemporary politics. He uses it to draw attention to Gulliver’s humanity, balancing out the strangeness of the lands Gulliver visits. Realism in literature, “refers generally to any artistic or literary portrayal of life in a faithful, accurate manner, unclouded by false ideals, literary conventions, or misplaced aesthetic glorification and beautification of the world. It is a theory or tendency in writing to depict events in human life in a matter-of-fact, straightforward manner. It is an attempt to reflect life as it actually is.” Swift uses the daily grotesque and bodily functions to both connect his audience and provoke disgust in them. By employing a blasé attitude when using this device, Swift manages to create a novel that has both realist aesthetic and the fantastical grotesque. He accomplishes this because the grotesque is simply an exaggeration of reality. Swift also creates the character of Gulliver, a realist character
Dystopian Literature seems to run along the same guidelines in terms of how the novels are set, and follow a similar chain of events leading to a great bittersweet climactic event. I will detail the similarities between the two novels Fahrenheit 451 and The Hunger Games. There is a reason behind the similarities of these two novels, and other dystopian literature. “The merits of dystopian literature are many.” (Erlich)
Throughout Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, it seems as if Atticus Finch is a failure as both a parent and a lawyer. However, somebody with a good understanding of the novel will realise that Atticus is in fact a terrific lawyer and a superb father. However, like all people, Atticus has his flaws.
In Gullivers' Travel, Gulliver constantly lives in a state of fear from the immense size of all objects surrounding him yet he eventually overcomes this fear as the story progress. At the beginning of this excerpt, Gulliver is saved from shipwreck by a 72ft. farmer and his daughter Glumdalclitch. As the story progresses Gulliver and Glumdalclitch develop a liking for one another and build a very special relationship.
There is hardly anyone that hasn’t had to grow up. Growth is central to every character in a story, but “Through the Tunnel” and To Kill a Mockingbird amplify this; the loss of innocence and coming of age is central to the entire story. Both “Through the Tunnel” and To Kill a Mockingbird’s main conflict test the characters (Jem in To Kill a Mockingbird and Jerry in “Through the Tunnel”) as they grow up in the face of adversity.
“The situation of the orphan is truly the worst, you’re a child, powerless, with no protectors or guides. It’s the most vulnerable position you can be in, to see someone overcome those odds tells us something about the human spirit. They are often depicted as the kindest or most clever of characters.” Michelle Boisseau describes how important these types of characters are. In a Sunday Times article, she states that a lot of the stories and novels are considered to be apologues about orphans becoming the hero of the book. Huck’s story is quite like this subject. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel written by Mark Twain, it’s about a boy named Huckleberry Finn, who sets
Two novels use satire to criticize human weakness. In ‘Gulliver’s Travel’, Swift makes up a horse society Houyhnhnm and a brutal animal Yahoo. Gulliver has to admit that human beings are yahoos after a series comparison between human and yahoo. Vices of human beings are exposed by the Swift’s satiric
“Errand into the Maze,” is a captivating and clever piece choreographed by one of the most influential individuals within the dance industry, Martha Graham. “Errand into the Maze” takes it’s audience back into Greek Mythology that portrays a woman, Phaedra, confronting her fears which takes on the form of a man; however, there is more than what meets the eye. She depicts a woman caught within her own emotional maze: the torturing battle of temptation.
“Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.” (Twain, ix) Mark Twain opens his book with a personal notice, abstract from the storyline, to discourage the reader from looking for depth in his words. This severe yet humorous personal caution is written as such almost to dissuade his readers from having any high expectations. The language in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is completely “American” beyond the need for perfect grammar. “Mark Twain’s novel, of course, is widely considered to be a definitively American literary text.” (Robert Jackson,
Home in today’s society can be described in many ways, but is ultimately expressed as more of a feeling of safety and love. Sonsyrea Tate claims "You can leave home all you want, but home will never leave you." In essence, the feeling of home is a part of the character and who he/she will become. In Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, Pip examines the true meaning of home and how the subjective opinion of home can reflect who a person becomes. He illustrates this idea using recurring appearances of home-like symbols, the way Pip’s definition of home changes throughout the novel, and how he shows Pip’s acquired feelings after moving into higher society.
In the last voyage in Jonathan Swift's book Gulliver's Travels, "A voyage to the country of the Houyhnhnms," Swift describes his idea of an ideal society. There are many examples provided in this part of the book to convince the reader that Swift is indeed illustrating his idea of a utopia. By using horses as the most reasonable creature, Swift not only defaces human society by making a beast a more powerful creature, but also shows that humans are unable to attain this perfectly reasonable society.
Jonathan Swift wrote Gulliver's Travels in 1762 with the intent of providing entertainment for people. Entertainment through satire was what Swift had in mind. In Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift traveled to four different foreign countries, each representing a corrupt part of England. Swift criticized the corruption of such parts and focused on the government, society, science, religion and man. Not only did Swift criticize the customs of each country, he mocked the naive man who was unable to figure out the double meaning of things. When reading Gulliver's Travels, reflects upon plot, characters, settings, theme, point of view, conflicts, climax, resolution, symbolism and figurative
Gulliver’s Travels, published in 1726, by Jonathan Swift, is a travel narrative about Lemuel Gulliver. Europe, around the time Swift published his novel, was dominated with ideas of Enlightenment which privileged rational thought and reason. Man during this time believed to be superior to all creatures, based on his ability to reason. Gulliver’s Travels satirically relates bodily functions and physical attributes to social issues as well as the Enlightenment Theory. Through the voyages of Gulliver, Swift breaks down the exalted notions which were associated with the age of the Enlightenment. Swift also uses graphic representations of the body and its functions, to reveal to the reader that greatness is
Throughput the book “Gulliver’s Travels” by Jonathan Swift, the character Gulliver changes many times. During and after part two and four of the book a noticeable change in Gulliver starts to occur. He himself may not see it but the reader sees it and ones attitude towards Gulliver might change due to Gulliver’s changes. Throughout these two parts, we see Gulliver as an adventurous man that wants to see everything that has been created in the world. During his second adventure Gulliver see the opposite side of the spectrum and has to fend for his life because of his small size, which causes him to lose his view of human size when he goes back to England. In addition, he starts to
These people take all of his possessions for inspection, for they are in awe and fear of his great size. They feed him, and soon untie him but still keep him in confinement. While in his confinement, he is visited by the emperor who likes Gulliver. Gulliver learns there language and the customs of the people of Lilliput. In this book Swift, by describing the ludicrous system that Lilliput's government fashions in, is satirizing the English system of governing. He uses parallels that seem absurd at first glance but make more senses when looked at carefully.
The novel, Gulliver’s Travels, is just that, a novel about the main character, Gulliver who goes on many journeys. The part of this book that brings out the reader’s interest is Gulliver’s character and the ways his character changes as the story progresses. He begins as a naïve Englishman and by the end of the book he has a strong hatred for the human race. Gulliver shows that his adventures have taught him that a simple life, one without the complexities and weaknesses of human society, may be best, but the simple life he longed for should not have been the route he took.