Gulliver’s Travels: Gulliver’s Identity Loss

Spencer Shelburne British Literature I Novel Paper 12/2/11 Gullivers Lost Identity J. R. R. Tolkien once said, Not e genuinely(prenominal) who wander ar lost. It is to be assumed then that he was non talking ab protrude Capt. Lemuel Gulliver. Gullivers Travels by Jonathan active is a narrative of the individuality crisis. Captain Gulliver is indeed lost, both liter totallyy and metaphorically. He sets out on a voyage watch outking a way to fulfill his identicalness as the financial supporter of his family, entirely once he leaves the structure society of England, his wizard of identity is lost. At times, he does not nevertheless consider his family guts home.He is mis targetd in strange countries with strange inhabitants. In his misplacement, an interesting identity-void is created Gulliver has no way to define himself as a stranger in a new society. The need to belong overwhelms him, and he asks both identity that is thrget his way, no matter how degrading it is. fi nished this void, fast explores how society and politics magisterialally function to disassemble and reinvent the individual. In each of the countries Gulliver travels to, he is free from a sense of kinship and alter from credenza, the degree of which increases with each voyage.This mania and isolation is surprisingly primary bare in his home country, England. In an unemotional tone he describes his family My sire had a small estate in Nottinghamshire I was the third of quintet sons my father now and then sending me small sums of money (p. 1). Likewise, his fond regard to his wife is just as dispassionately observed I unite Mrs. Mary Burton, second daughter to Mr. Edmond Burton, Hosier, in Newgate-street (p. 2). Even in his headmaster life, Gulliver has no real connection.He comments, But my good Master Bates dying in two years after, and I having few friends, my business began to fail for my sense of right and wrong would not suffer me to imitate the bad practice o f too umteen among my brethren (p. 2). Though he tries to connect to society by participating in a respectable profession, he remains alone. This alienation and isolation is a minor theme throughout his voyages it is the first step in the systematic approach Swift takes towards dealing with the broader theme of identity. In each of the tillages Gulliver encounters, this sense of alone-ness increases.In Lilliput and Brobdingnag, for example, Gulliver is even more marginalized from society by their fear of his physical visual aspect he is a giant compared to the six-inch Lilliputians and an insect to the sixty-foot tall Brobdingnags. He is perpetually aware of his differences from his hosts, creating a conscious sense of alienation. In the articles of his freedom, the Lilliputians point out they concluded from the similarity of their bodies, that mine must contain at least(prenominal) 1728 of theirs, and consequently would require as often food as was necessary to support that number of Lilliputians (p. 2). His differences isolate him from the Lilliputian society he physically does not fit anywhere, viewing their country as a sort of theatre (p. 9). His senses are also different, for he can see ofttimes further away than the Lilliputians, and likewise they can see much nearer than he. In Brobdingnag, he has to convince his master that he is not a lowly puppet. The Brobdingnagian reaction to him highlights their repulsion of his differences The farmer by this time was convinced I must be a acute creatureThen he called his wife, and shewed me to her, but she screamed and ran back as women in England do at the sight of a toad or a spider (p. 58). Gulliver is different from the native inhabitants of Lilliput and Brobdingnag and is alienated as such. In his voyages to Laputa and Houyhnhnm, Gullivers societal isolation drastically increases, until he reaches the apex with the Houyhnhnms. In both countries he is openly condescended for both his physical and h is intellectual limitations, and because of this condescension he is isolated from the rest of the society.When he refused the flapper to converse, it gave his Majesty and the whole court a very mean pinion of my understanding (p. 114). The king wants to learn nothing of Englands history, but rather asks Gulliver to focus on European mathematics and received the cast with nifty contempt and indifference (p. 120). In Laputa, Gulliver and his native society are weaknesses. The isolation in Houyhnhnm is the most acute, however. Gulliver cannot relate to them because they are not sympathetic they are a superior species of horse. Nor can he relate to the odious and foul Yahoos who are human in an unrecognizable form.Spatially this isolation is manifested in the placement of his housing the master horse ordered a place for me to lodge in it was but six yards from the house, and separated from the stable of the Yahoos (p. 175). Although Gulliver takes up acquaintance with the Houyhnh nms it is always understood that he is associated with the Yahoos, for whom Gulliver has affected a fatheaded hatred. They teach him the language, yet looked upon it as a prodigy, that a brute animal should discover such marks of a rational creature (p. 175). Gullivers alienation here in the country of horses is vastly complete.Where then does this alienation and isolation leave Gulliver? He is in an identity-void, searching for any form of acceptance. Swift presents this as early as Gullivers life in England. He lists his self-worth by his education and professional training, name-dropping as often as achievable to give himself affluence He sent me to Emanuel-College in Cam brace I was spring apprentice to Mr. James Bates, an eminent surgeon in London Leyden on that point I studied Physic two years and seven months (p. 1). Through this series of wealthy names, Gulliver is seeking an identity through the acceptance of his audience.Lilliput is much different than England, howe ver, in both its inhabitants and its culture. In this identity-void, Gulliver grasps at any shuck of acceptance, no matter how degrading or humiliating. He unfeignedly gives himself onwards the emperor and princes, offering complete servility he is a servant, burning to please his new masters. Upon later duty once a lucrest the Lilliputians sworn opponent, the Blefuscu, he says, This great Prince received at my landing with all possible encomiums, and created me a Nardac upon the spot, which is the highest gentle of honour among them (p. 29).He has come acrossd a place in the Lilliputian society and is elated. In his almost desperate attempt to gain favor with the emperor and princes, he proclaims I desired the secretary to present my humble duty to the emperor butterfly an to let him know, that I thought it would not generate me, who was a foreigner, to intercept with parties but I was ready, with the hazard of my life, to defend his soul and state against all invaders (p. 26). He has learned the language earnestly to build a bridge over his alienation. He has allowed himself to be held captive, knowing full well that collectable to his sheer strength, he could squash whomever he choses.But only on the Lilliputians monetary value does Gulliver receive acceptance, and as witnessed in the rapid recall of his title and honor, it is casual at best. As Gullivers journeys progress, the occurrences of even temporary social identity and cause of acceptance decrease rapidly, an inverse to the increase of his alienation. From Brobdingnag on, Gulliver never fully adapts to their societies, although he does not stop trying to find his adopted identity. In Brobdingnag, he humors the Queen, entertaining her as a doll-like plaything, winning her favor.In an attempt to build his own identity as the Queens favorite, he deliberately undermines the Queens dwarf, sending him to live with some other household as a punishment. In Laputa and Houyhnhnm, Gulliver exp eriences something altogether different than what he has encountered before. Laputa is a floating island of philosophy and higher thought, a would-be utopia if it were not for excess and the lack of reason. Gulliver makes an attempt to understand the Laputans by learning their language, visit various places such as their court, universities and land below, but cannot reconcile himself with what he finds it is too abstract and tedious.He grows increasingly weary of those people (p. 127) and feels neglected (p. 127). For the first time in all his travels, he longs for England. In place of Gullivers arrive for acceptance, the reader is introduced to Lord Munodi. He is an isolated character, and much like Gulliver he is seeking his identity in a society that does not accept him. In Lord Munodis case, it is because he is too rational and looked upon with tenderness, as a well-meaning man, but of a low contemptible understanding (p. 129).Having failed to achieve an enduring identity in t hese societies, it is not without desperation that Gulliver next throws himself so fully in the pursuit of acceptance from the Houyhnhnms. To physically set himself isolated from the Yahoo-humans and be acceptable to the Houyhnhnms, he hides the appearance of his person with his clothes I had hitherto concealed the secret of my dress, in order to distinguish myself as much as possible, from that cursed race of Yahoos but now I found it in vain to do so any long-lasting (p. 177). He swears his master to secrecy, so that the rest of the Houyhnhnms will not weigh less of him.He goes out of his way to impress them with his acquisition of language and would be very content to live the rest of his time with the reasonable creatures. He is successful at creating a life among these whom he has grown to applaud and love, and even eventually moves into his Masters house. But other Houyhnhnms do not adore of a Yahoo staying in their own homes, and Gulliver is banished from Houyhnhnm. His alienation had overcome his acceptance dramatically. Where does this leave Gulliver? From his isolation to desperate attempts for acceptance comes a loss of base human identity.In England, Gulliver does not have any emotional attachment to his family as befitting a man of the middle class. He is an emotionless person concerned more with financial and social status than with leaving his wife, quin months pregnant, and the children he still knows so he can travel again he shows more emotion towards the Houyhnhnms than he does with his family. In his drive to keep an eye on in position society, he has ceased being an emotional creature of humanity. In Lilliput, Gullivers loss of a human identity is much more literal when he allows himself to be chained up as a prisoner.The type of him with chains around him, and his observation that being fixed within quartet inches of the gate, allowed me to creep in, and lie at my full length in the synagogue (p. 9) brings to mind a dog in th e doghouse. He allows the Lilliputians to strip him of his English identity by renaming him Man Mountain, and he further distances himself from England when he learns their language in an attempt to bridge his alienation. In his desperation for acceptance, he allows himself to become a tool of the state and takes on the Lilliputian sworn enemy Blefuscu.In Brobdingnag, Gulliver likewise lowers himself so far as to stop being a human being, but rather a play thing for their amusement. He is again stripped of his English identity by being dressed to kill(p) in Brobdingnagian styled attire and renamed Gildrig. He gets so immersed in the Brobdingnag culture that he has a very difficult time departure back to his native culture in England, and therefore he treats his family as if they were Lilliputians. In Houyhnhnm the reader sees the most drastic change in Gullivers identity as a human as he becomes a loner.It is here that he loses all sense of his former humanity. He is sickened by t he idea of going to live among the Yahoos, and he has so fully adopted the Houyhnhnm society that he cannot help but see his family as ugly, beastlike creatures. In the end, he is constrained to return to the world from which he came. Having seen the things he has, the world of Yahoos is disgusting to him. When deliver by Don Pedro De Mendez, Gullivers complete submersion in Houyhnhnm culture is at once apparent in his accent and his clothing. Once home, he is barely able to tolerate the presence of his family.He then goes into a kind of madness, consumption his days talking to the horses in his stable as if to recreate Houyhnhnm. It is when he is alienated from social acceptance that his identity starts weakening. Gulliver doesnt just try to gain a new identity, one is forced upon him he is a goliath a repulsive Yahoo in Houyhnhnm, a doll named Gildrig in Brobdingnag, and of course a Man Mountain tool in Lilliput. Eventually, he latches on to any acceptance he can find, even if it authority losing his basic identity as a human. Work Cited Swift, Jonathan. Gullivers Travels. New York Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964.