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1. Introduction of the story
Gulliver's Travels was regarded as the greatest satire in the English language. Here is some social and political background to understand the themes better. The eighteenth century saw the outbreak of Industrial Revolution. The accumulation of capital to support the growth of Industrial capitalism brought about cruel oppression and exploitation in Europe, especially in Ireland. This period was filled with much political corruption, upheaval and fighting, which are the subjects of mockery in Gulliver's Travels. In Ireland, Swift witnessed a country of people was driven to poverty and desperation by England's restrictive policies. This book was a reflection of the wider social, political and ethical orders of England. It contains four parts, which are known as voyage to Lilliput, to Brobdingnag, to Laputa and other strange lands and the country of the Houyhnhnms respectively. Each of them deals with one particular voyage and in each Gulliver meets some extraordinary adventures on some remote island after he has met with shipwreck or pirates or some other misfortune.
2. The themes of the Novel
The novel is more than a travel story. It is a satire on the eighteenth century English society, touching about almost every aspect of the society. Bitterly satirical, the book takes great pains to bring to light the wickedness of the then English society, with its tyranny, its political intrigues and corruption, its aggressive wars and colonialism, its religious disputes and persecution, and its ruthless oppression and exploitation of the common people. The ugliness of the eighteenth century English society is no elsewhere so thoroughly and forcefully exposed and condemned as in it.
2.1 The Individual and Society
Gulliver's Travels explores the idea of utopia-an imaginary model of the ideal community. Swift has the Lilliputians raise their offspring collectively, but its results are not exactly utopian, since Lilliput is torn by conspiracies, jealousies, and backstabbing. The Houyhnhnms come closer to the utopian ideal than the Lilliputians in their wisdom and rational simplicity. But in their absolute fusion with their society and lack of individuality, they are in a sense the exact opposite of Gulliver, who has hardly any sense of belonging to his native society and exists only as an individual eternally wandering the seas. Gulliver's intense grief when forced to leave the Houyhnhnms may have something to do with his longing for union with a community in which he can lose his human identity.
2.2 The Limits of Human Understanding
The idea that humans are not meant to know everything and that all understanding has a natural limit is important in Gulliver's Travels. The Brobdingnagian king knows shockingly little about the abstractions of political science, yet his country seems prosperous and well governed. Similarly, the Houyhnhnms know little about arcane subjects like astronomy, though they know how long a month is. Aspiring to higher fields of knowledge would be meaningless to them and would interfere with their happiness. Swift also emphasizes the importance of self-understanding. Gulliver is initially remarkably lacking in self-reflection and self-awareness. By the end, he has come close to a kind of twisted self-knowledge in his deranged belief that he is a Yahoo. Swift may thus be saying that self-knowledge has its necessary limits just as theoretical knowledge does.
参考文献:
[1]孙丽华.试谈<格列佛游记>的思想价值[J].黑龙江教育学院,1998(5):78.
[2]Kathleen Williams. (Ed.) Swift: The Critical Heritage, London,1970.
[3]Ian Campbell Ross: Jonathan Swift: A Commemorative Address, St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin,1995.
Gulliver's Travels was regarded as the greatest satire in the English language. Here is some social and political background to understand the themes better. The eighteenth century saw the outbreak of Industrial Revolution. The accumulation of capital to support the growth of Industrial capitalism brought about cruel oppression and exploitation in Europe, especially in Ireland. This period was filled with much political corruption, upheaval and fighting, which are the subjects of mockery in Gulliver's Travels. In Ireland, Swift witnessed a country of people was driven to poverty and desperation by England's restrictive policies. This book was a reflection of the wider social, political and ethical orders of England. It contains four parts, which are known as voyage to Lilliput, to Brobdingnag, to Laputa and other strange lands and the country of the Houyhnhnms respectively. Each of them deals with one particular voyage and in each Gulliver meets some extraordinary adventures on some remote island after he has met with shipwreck or pirates or some other misfortune.
2. The themes of the Novel
The novel is more than a travel story. It is a satire on the eighteenth century English society, touching about almost every aspect of the society. Bitterly satirical, the book takes great pains to bring to light the wickedness of the then English society, with its tyranny, its political intrigues and corruption, its aggressive wars and colonialism, its religious disputes and persecution, and its ruthless oppression and exploitation of the common people. The ugliness of the eighteenth century English society is no elsewhere so thoroughly and forcefully exposed and condemned as in it.
2.1 The Individual and Society
Gulliver's Travels explores the idea of utopia-an imaginary model of the ideal community. Swift has the Lilliputians raise their offspring collectively, but its results are not exactly utopian, since Lilliput is torn by conspiracies, jealousies, and backstabbing. The Houyhnhnms come closer to the utopian ideal than the Lilliputians in their wisdom and rational simplicity. But in their absolute fusion with their society and lack of individuality, they are in a sense the exact opposite of Gulliver, who has hardly any sense of belonging to his native society and exists only as an individual eternally wandering the seas. Gulliver's intense grief when forced to leave the Houyhnhnms may have something to do with his longing for union with a community in which he can lose his human identity.
2.2 The Limits of Human Understanding
The idea that humans are not meant to know everything and that all understanding has a natural limit is important in Gulliver's Travels. The Brobdingnagian king knows shockingly little about the abstractions of political science, yet his country seems prosperous and well governed. Similarly, the Houyhnhnms know little about arcane subjects like astronomy, though they know how long a month is. Aspiring to higher fields of knowledge would be meaningless to them and would interfere with their happiness. Swift also emphasizes the importance of self-understanding. Gulliver is initially remarkably lacking in self-reflection and self-awareness. By the end, he has come close to a kind of twisted self-knowledge in his deranged belief that he is a Yahoo. Swift may thus be saying that self-knowledge has its necessary limits just as theoretical knowledge does.
参考文献:
[1]孙丽华.试谈<格列佛游记>的思想价值[J].黑龙江教育学院,1998(5):78.
[2]Kathleen Williams. (Ed.) Swift: The Critical Heritage, London,1970.
[3]Ian Campbell Ross: Jonathan Swift: A Commemorative Address, St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin,1995.