Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift (1726) (read in 2016)
Disclaimer: these are notes I took while reading this book. They include citations I found interesting or enlightening or particularly well-written. In some cases, I’ve pointed out which of these applies to which citation; in others, I have not. Any benefit you gain from reading these notes is purely incidental to the purpose they serve of reminding me what I once read. Please see Wikipedia for a summary if I’ve failed to provide one sufficient for your purposes. If my notes serve to trigger an interest in this book, then I’m happy for you.
This tale follows the life of gentleman adventurer Gulliver along several ocean voyages, each of which ends in shipwreck. The first takes him to Lilliput, where he is much, much bigger than everyone else. He describes his nine months there as he quickly learns their language and ingratiates himself to the emperor. He returns home with adequate riches in the form of miniature livestock that he sells to finance the family he left behind.
Soon after, he is on a boat again, stranding himself somewhere in the Pacific, on a large heretofore undiscovered continent in the Pacific Ocean called Brobdignag. On this continent, the residents are as much bigger than he as he was bigger than the Lilliputians. He tells of his rather mundane adventures there, but be assured that here, too, he befriends royalty and plants himself firmly at the top of the Brobdingnagian food-chain. He is swept off this continent by circumstance (and a bird) and is once again rescued on the open ocean.
This most unfortunate of sailors is somehow taken up on another crew. This ship is attacked by pirates and Gulliver is stranded near idea. He is picked up by the flying island of Laputa, which is composed nearly entirely of adamant and has an adamant mechanism to guide its motion. After spending some time among the royalty there, he becomes bored and wants to visit the lands below, named Balnibarbi. Again, Gulliver is feted by all and invited everywhere important. In the great university of Lagado he finds the reason the country is so dilapidated: the entirety of the people’s efforts have been perverted into non-rational and non-scientific pursuits that have no hope of accomplishing anything useful. There are only a few holdouts, whose homes and lands look normal and seem productive to Gulliver. A final side trip to Glubbdubdrib has him communing with the ghosts of all of the celebrities of the ages, thanks to the help of a great sorcerer. Gulliver again benefits from tremendous powers without any reason as to why he is singled out for the privilege.
After once again returning home to his wife and children—who must be teenagers by now—he cannot stay put and takes advantage of an offer to captain his own vessel. This is a capital idea if you want to commit insurance fraud, as the vessel is almost certain to capsize or otherwise fail to reach its destination with Gulliver aboard. It turns out that, this time, Gulliver’s crew is less than honorable and they hire criminals to replace expired members until he has no more control and they trap him in his cabin. After weeks, they resolve to rid themselves of him in a small dinghy. He of course fetches up on yet another previously undiscovered land, this one populated by Yahoos and Houyhnhnms. The Yahoos are life extremely vile humans with no civilizing characteristics. The Houyhnhnms are horses with pure rationality and no strife and perfect in every way. Gulliver, of course, lives with the Houyhnhnms, even though he looks just like a Yahoo, which they keep as work animals. He spends years with them, learning their language and their ways and resolving to never return to the debased culture whence he came. Alas, the Houyhnhnms decide to get rid of him because they cannot abide a Yahoo in their midst. He builds himself a canoe and—lo and behold—is rescued by a Portuguese ship. He is of two minds: he wants to be rescued, but he doesn’t want to spend any time in the company of Yahoos. He doesn’t even want to return to civilization, really. He abhors everything about his own kind and can no longer abide even the smell of them. This applies even to his family once he is returned to England, where he lives out the rest of his days as a recluse, unable to reintegrate with the Yahoos.
Citations
Swift pins his own ideas about the shortcomings of British culture on the frame of these fantastic tales. Here he points out that the legal system is somewhat unnecessarily focused only on the penalties rather than rewards.
“And these people thought it a prodigious defect of policy among us, when I told them that our laws were enforced only by penalties, without any mention of reward. It is upon this account that the image of Justice, in their courts of judicature, is formed with six eyes, two before, as many behind, and on each side one, to signify circumspection; with a bag of gold open in her right hand, and a sword sheathed in her left, to show she is more disposed to reward than to punish.”
Page 46
This next part is also relatively advanced philosophical thinking about the burden imposed on a child by bringing it into the world.
“[…] for which reason they will never allow that a child is under any obligation to his father for begetting him, or to his mother for bringing him into the world; which, considering the miseries of human life, was neither a benefit in itself, nor intended so by his parents, whose thoughts, in their love encounters, were otherwise employed.”
Page 48
OK, so I can’t tell if Swift is being sarcastic in the next citation. I’m hoping yes, but cannot assume that Swift had an advanced attitude toward suffrage and equal rights.
“[…] for their maxim is, that among peoples of quality, a wife should be always a reasonable and agreeable companion, because she cannot always be young.”
Page 50
With tongue planted firmly in cheek, Swift tells of how Gulliver is being unreasonable when he considers the emperor’s punishment to be unfair.
“That if his majesty, in consideration of your services, and pursuant to his own merciful disposition, would please to spare your life, and only give orders to put out both your eyes, he humbly conceived, that by this expedient justice might in some measure be satisfied, and all the world would applaud the lenity of the emperor, as well as the fair and generous proceedings of those who have the honour to be his counsellors. That the loss of your eyes would be no impediment to your bodily strength, by which you might still be useful to his majesty; that blindness is an addition to courage, by concealing dangers from us; that the fear you had for your eyes, was the greatest difficulty in bringing over the enemy’s fleet, and it would be sufficient for you to see by the eyes of the ministers, since the greatest princes do no more.”
Page 57
Jesus. Sarcastic much?
“Yet, as to myself, I must confess, having never been designed for a courtier, either by my birth or education, I was so ill a judge of things, that I could not discover the lenity and favour of this sentence, but conceived it (perhaps erroneously) rather to be rigorous than gentle.”
Page 59
Swift uses the Emperor’s speech to express what are probably his own ideas about the debauched nature of English politics and law.
“My little friend Grildrig, you have made a most admirable panegyric upon your country; you have clearly proved, that ignorance, idleness, and vice, are the proper ingredients for qualifying a legislator; that laws are best explained, interpreted, and applied, by those whose interest and abilities lie in perverting, confounding, and eluding them. I observe among you some lines of an institution, which, in its original, might have been tolerable, but these half erased, and the rest wholly blurred and blotted by corruptions.
Page 115
I don’t know how to interpret this passage. Is it a fabulous cautionary tale intended to keep people on the island? Is the author retelling or is he credulous? I feel that this is another tongue-in-cheek telling of how the lady is just too flighty to see how much better it is in Laputa, even though it totally sucks.
“I was told that a great court lady, who had several children,—is married to the prime minister, the richest subject in the kingdom, a very graceful person, extremely fond of her, and lives in the finest palace of the island,—went down to Lagado on the pretence of health, there hid herself for several months, till the king sent a warrant to search for her; and she was found in an obscure eating-house all in rags, having pawned her clothes to maintain an old deformed footman, who beat her every day, and in whose company she was taken, much against her will. And although her husband received her with all possible kindness, and without the least reproach, she soon after contrived to steal down again, with all her jewels, to the same gallant, and has not been heard of since.”
Page 145
More sarcastic ideas of how to fix society.
“Wit, valour, and politeness, were likewise proposed to be largely taxed, and collected in the same manner, by every person’s giving his own word for the quantum of what he possessed. But as to honour, justice, wisdom, and learning, they should not be taxed at all; because they are qualifications of so singular a kind, that no man will either allow them in his neighbour or value them in himself. The women were proposed to be taxed according to their beauty and skill in dressing, wherein they had the same privilege with the men, to be determined by their own judgment. But constancy, chastity, good sense, and good nature, were not rated, because they would not bear the charge of collecting.”
Page 166
This next piece is about the immortals (struldbrugs) found in one of the civilizations. After Gulliver goes on at length about how awesome it would be to be immortal, the natives must regretfully inform him that, while a few citizens live forever, they go very seriously downhill once they hit eighty—they just don’t die.
“At ninety, they lose their teeth and hair; they have at that age no distinction of taste, but eat and drink whatever they can get, without relish or appetite. The diseases they were subject to still continue, without increasing or diminishing. In talking, they forget the common appellation of things, and the names of persons, even of those who are their nearest friends and relations. For the same reason, they never can amuse themselves with reading, because their memory will not serve to carry them from the beginning of a sentence to the end; and by this defect, they are deprived of the only entertainment whereof they might otherwise be capable.”
Page 188
This next observation about how immortals would be unable to understand subsequent generations is quite prescient. This actually applies even to generations without a normal lifespan, especially with the increased rate of cultural change in the 20th and 21st centuries.
“The language of this country being always upon the flux, the struldbrugs of one age do not understand those of another; neither are they able, after two hundred years, to hold any conversation (farther than by a few general words) with their neighbours the mortals; and thus they lie under the disadvantage of living like foreigners in their own country.”
Page 188
On the final island, the horses are in charge of the humans. When Gulliver describes how humans and horses live together in his world, the horse ruler on the island nods sagely and comes to the conclusion that the horses rule in Gulliver’s world as well (the same conclusion to which a dog would come when it heard how modern humans live with dogs—the dogs are clearly in charge).
“When I asserted that the Yahoos were the only governing animals in my country, which my master said was altogether past his conception, he desired to know, “whether we had Houyhnhnms among us, and what was their employment?” I told him, “we had great numbers; that in summer they grazed in the fields, and in winter were kept in houses with hay and oats, where Yahoo servants were employed to rub their skins smooth, comb their manes, pick their feet, serve them with food, and make their beds.” “I understand you well,” said my master: “it is now very plain, from all you have spoken, that whatever share of reason the Yahoos pretend to, the Houyhnhnms are your masters; I heartily wish our Yahoos would be so tractable.” ”
Page 211
The reasons for war and strife that Swift lists are wholly and entirely unchanged even almost 300 years later (next two passages).
“He asked me, “what were the usual causes or motives that made one country go to war with another?” I answered “they were innumerable; but I should only mention a few of the chief. Sometimes the ambition of princes, who never think they have land or people enough to govern; sometimes the corruption of ministers, who engage their master in a war, in order to stifle or divert the clamour of the subjects against their evil administration. Difference in opinions has cost many millions of lives: for instance, whether flesh be bread, or bread be flesh; whether the juice of a certain berry be blood or wine; whether whistling be a vice or a virtue; whether it be better to kiss a post, or throw it into the fire; what is the best colour for a coat, whether black, white, red, or gray; and whether it should be long or short, narrow or wide, dirty or clean; with many more. Neither are any wars so furious and bloody, or of so long a continuance, as those occasioned by difference in opinion, especially if it be in things indifferent.”
Page 216
““Sometimes the quarrel between two princes is to decide which of them shall dispossess a third of his dominions, where neither of them pretend to any right. Sometimes one prince quarrels with another for fear the other should quarrel with him. Sometimes a war is entered upon, because the enemy is too strong; and sometimes, because he is too weak. Sometimes our neighbours want the things which we have, or have the things which we want, and we both fight, till they take ours, or give us theirs. It is a very justifiable cause of a war, to invade a country after the people have been wasted by famine, destroyed by pestilence, or embroiled by factions among themselves. It is justifiable to enter into war against our nearest ally, when one of his towns lies convenient for us, or a territory of land, that would render our dominions round and complete. ”
Page 217
“For these reasons, the trade of a soldier is held the most honourable of all others; because a soldier is a Yahoo hired to kill, in cold blood, as many of his own species, who have never offended him, as possibly he can.”
Page 217
Swift really doesn’t like lawyers. This situation seems unchanged over 300 years, as well.
“[…] there was a society of men among us, bred up from their youth in the art of proving, by words multiplied for the purpose, that white is black, and black is white, according as they are paid. To this society all the rest of the people are slaves. For example, if my neighbour has a mind to my cow, he has a lawyer to prove that he ought to have my cow from me. I must then hire another to defend my right, it being against all rules of law that any man should be allowed to speak for himself. Now, in this case, I, who am the right owner, lie under two great disadvantages: first, my lawyer, being practised almost from his cradle in defending falsehood, is quite out of his element when he would be an advocate for justice, which is an unnatural office he always attempts with great awkwardness, if not with ill-will. The second disadvantage is, that my lawyer must proceed with great caution, or else he will be reprimanded by the judges, and abhorred by his brethren, as one that would lessen the practice of the law. ”
Page 219
His description of precedent law is also quite entertaining.
“It is a maxim among these lawyers that whatever has been done before, may legally be done again: and therefore they take special care to record all the decisions formerly made against common justice, and the general reason of mankind. These, under the name of precedents, they produce as authorities to justify the most iniquitous opinions; and the judges never fail of directing accordingly.”
Page 220
“It is likewise to be observed, that this society has a peculiar cant and jargon of their own, that no other mortal can understand, and wherein all their laws are written, which they take special care to multiply; whereby they have wholly confounded the very essence of truth and falsehood, of right and wrong; so that it will take thirty years to decide, whether the field left me by my ancestors for six generations belongs to me, or to a stranger three hundred miles off.”
Page 221
Once lawyers are dispensed with, the way the global economy works is on the chopping block. Again, the critique of capitalism then continues to be very applicable today.
“But, in order to feed the luxury and intemperance of the males, and the vanity of the females, we sent away the greatest part of our necessary things to other countries, whence, in return, we brought the materials of diseases, folly, and vice, to spend among ourselves. Hence it follows of necessity, that vast numbers of our people are compelled to seek their livelihood by begging, robbing, stealing, cheating, pimping, flattering, suborning, forswearing, forging, gaming, lying, fawning, hectoring, voting, scribbling, star-gazing, poisoning, whoring, canting, libelling, freethinking, and the like occupations:” every one of which terms I was at much pains to make him understand. “That wine was not imported among us from foreign countries to supply the want of water or other drinks, but because it was a sort of liquid which made us merry by putting us out of our senses, diverted all melancholy thoughts, begat wild extravagant imaginations in the brain, raised our hopes and banished our fears, suspended every office of reason for a time, and deprived us of the use of our limbs, till we fell into a profound sleep; although it must be confessed, that we always awaked sick and dispirited; and that the use of this liquor filled us with diseases which made our lives uncomfortable and short.”
Page 223
After lawyers and the economy, Swift ruthlessly attacks the peerage.
“That a weak diseased body, a meagre countenance, and sallow complexion, are the true marks of noble blood; and a healthy robust appearance is so disgraceful in a man of quality, that the world concludes his real father to have been a groom or a coachman. The imperfections of his mind run parallel with those of his body, being a composition of spleen, dullness, ignorance, caprice, sensuality, and pride. “Without the consent of this illustrious body, no law can be enacted, repealed, or altered: and these nobles have likewise the decision of all our possessions, without appeal.”
Page 227
Methinks Swift really was an equal-rights advocate, as shown in the passage below.
“[…] my master thought it monstrous in us, to give the females a different kind of education from the males, except in some articles of domestic management; whereby, as he truly observed, one half of our natives were good for nothing but bringing children into the world; and to trust the care of our children to such useless animals, he said, was yet a greater instance of brutality.”
Page 240
That’s human skin that he’s using to cover his canoe. And that tallow is rendered human fat.
“I finished a sort of Indian canoe, but much larger, covering it with the skins of Yahoos, well stitched together with hempen threads of my own making. My sail was likewise composed of the skins of the same animal; but I made use of the youngest I could get, the older being too tough and thick; and I likewise provided myself with four paddles. ”
Page 252
“[…] tried my canoe in a large pond, near my master’s house, and then corrected in it what was amiss; stopping all the chinks with Yahoos’ tallow, till I found it staunch, and able to bear me and my freight; and, when it was as complete as I could possibly make it, I had it drawn on a carriage very gently by Yahoos to the sea-side, under the conduct of the sorrel nag and another servant.”
Page 252
Once Gulliver returns to his family, he still can’t integrate into the world of what he now can longer help but think of as Yahoo society.
“As soon as I entered the house, my wife took me in her arms, and kissed me; at which, having not been used to the touch of that odious animal for so many years, I fell into a swoon for almost an hour. At the time I am writing, it is five years since my last return to England. During the first year, I could not endure my wife or children in my presence; the very smell of them was intolerable; much less could I suffer them to eat in the same room. To this hour they dare not presume to touch my bread, or drink out of the same cup, neither was I ever able to let one of them take me by the hand. The first money I laid out was to buy two young stone-horses, which I keep in a good stable; and next to them, the groom is my greatest favourite, for I feel my spirits revived by the smell he contracts in the stable. My horses understand me tolerably well; I converse with them at least four hours every day. They are strangers to bridle or saddle; they live in great amity with me and friendship to each other.”
Page 260
Swift has one arrow left in his quiver and reserves it for how the West runs its empires, in particular the British one. Again, 300 years later and the game plan is unchanged.
“For instance, a crew of pirates are driven by a storm they know not whither; at length a boy discovers land from the topmast; they go on shore to rob and plunder, they see a harmless people, are entertained with kindness; they give the country a new name; they take formal possession of it for their king; they set up a rotten plank, or a stone, for a memorial; they murder two or three dozen of the natives, bring away a couple more, by force, for a sample; return home, and get their pardon. Here commences a new dominion acquired with a title by divine right. Ships are sent with the first opportunity; the natives driven out or destroyed; their princes tortured to discover their gold; a free license given to all acts of inhumanity and lust, the earth reeking with the blood of its inhabitants: and this execrable crew of butchers, employed in so pious an expedition, is a modern colony, sent to convert and civilize an idolatrous and barbarous people! But this description, I confess, does by no means affect the British nation, who may be an example to the whole world for their wisdom, care, and justice in planting colonies; their liberal endowments for the advancement of religion and learning; their choice of devout and able pastors to propagate Christianity; their caution in stocking their provinces with people of sober lives and conversations from this the mother kingdom; their strict regard to the distribution of justice, in supplying the civil administration through all their colonies with officers of the greatest abilities, utter strangers to corruption; and, to crown all, by sending the most vigilant and virtuous governors, who have no other views than the happiness of the people over whom they preside, and the honour of the king their master.”
Page 264
“But as those countries which I have described do not appear to have any desire of being conquered and enslaved, murdered or driven out by colonies, nor abound either in gold, silver, sugar, or tobacco, I did humbly conceive, they were by no means proper objects of our zeal, our valour, or our interest.”
Page 265