The Disillusionment of Gulliver

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses how, beyond the mirth and liveliness of Swift's characters in "Gulliver's Travels", there are themes of gravity, anger, anxiety, and frustration that Swift meant us to experience fully. The paper goes through the story and shows how Swift, as a master of shock, with perfect control of tone and pace and perfect timing, startles us into an awareness of the abyss of corrupt human natures and its implications.

From the Paper:

"The most serious charge leveled against Swift has been his negativism: as a person and as a satirist. The first count is easily dismissed if the admonition of almost every twentieth century critic is kept in mind: Swift is not Gulliver; Swift writes his satire, Gulliver at times becomes misanthropic. As far as the second charge is concerned, it may be sufficient to say that all of Swift's satire was written in anger, contempt, or disgust, but it was written to promote self-knowledge in the faith that self-knowledge will lead to right action."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Carnochan, W.B. 'Gulliver: The Satirist on Himself'. Lemuel Gulliver's Mirror for Man. pp. 90-105. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968.
• Lowlar, John. 'The Evolution of Gulliver's Character'. Essays and Studies, pp. 69-73. London, 1956.
• Monk, Samuel Holt. ' The Pride of Lemuel Gulliver'. The Sewanee Review, LXIII (1955). pp. 48-71.
• Swift, Jonathan. 'Gulliver's Travels'. Edited by Albert J. Rivero. W.W. Norton & Company, 2003.

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