Review of Week15: Nov 27

Tuesday, Nov 27 (10:50 class)
by Emily Duell

Swift and Johnson were the two big names of the 18th century and they continue to define the era.

Satire was a huge writing technique employed during this time. Some tools of satire are parodying, exaggerating, and ridiculing

The purpose is to instruct and critique the temporary world, to make a statement about it, and to provoke thought and analysis.

Satire pushes particular thoughts and ideas of the day

This was the Golden Age of satire in England. Satire was fundamental to the purpose of literature

Swift borrows satire from the classical period, specifically from Juvenal and Horatio

Horatian satire was during 1 BCE and was written in the first person. This satire was witty and often “shared” with the “in-the-know” audience

Juvenalian satire was during 1 CE and was written in narrative form. This satire was more harsh and hard-hitting.

Swift writes somewhere in the middle of these two types of satire, however he leans more towards Juvenalian satire

Swift spent his time between Ireland and England, although he favored England

He was also associated with the Tory party. The Tories maintained that things were the way they were and should not be changed

Swift’s purpose for Gulliver’s Travels was to vex the world. He did not just want to entertain, but to provoke thought

Swift uses the notion of the imaginary voyage and travels to critique his own country

He wrote in a way that could help bury the criticism so he would not get attacked for his ideas

The first book of Gulliver’s Travels is about the island of Lilliput, an island filled with little people who think very highly of themselves. This book was mainly an attack on British Parliament and government

The second book takes place on the island of Brobdingnag, an island filled with ugly people. However, the people are the gentlest and Gulliver grows fond of them. This book describes Swift’s utopian society

The third book takes place in Laputa and is a critique of what is happening in science. Swift describes ridiculous experiments and what it means to be learned. He also attacks politics

The fourth book, what we read for class, is about Gulliver in the land of the Houyhnhnms

This book tends to be more like the second book, and is a general critique on human nature

Page 1334 shows a description of the island and how everything is in perfect order. Things are naturally in order and there is no need for planning

This shows a kind of pre-fall nature and untarnished society

On page 1335, Gulliver meets the Yahoos. The Yahoos approach him with a hand lifted and Gulliver hits them in response.

On the same page, when Gulliver first encounters the Houyhnhnms, he does the same thing to them as the Yahoos did to him. However, the Houyhnhnms respond with grace and gentleness

This shows the contrast between the horses and the humans

The Houyhnhnms think that Gulliver is a Yahoo at first, but they see the differences. This brings about the question of whether or not clothing dresses up the Yahoos to hide what’s inside. Is clothing a mark of false civilization? Will civilization make things better or is it just superficial trappings that hide human nature?

Gulliver becomes friends with the master Houyhnhnm and starts to learn their language. He spends three years in the land of the Houyhnhnms

On page 1336, Gulliver remarks at how the horses’ language shows their passions; however the Houyhnhnms do not really have passions at all. Their relationships are purely rational without emotion. What characterizes the horses? Do they represent the ideal human nature? Or do they show how, despite human flaw, emotions and feelings are necessary?

Gulliver eventually gets kicked out of Houyhnhnm land. The horses fear he might lead the Yahoos in a rebellion. They talk about castrating the Yahoos so they will die out (like Europeans do to horses to tame them)

This shows how contact with a European affects their whole culture and customs

Gulliver ends up leaving the island with a Portuguese man who takes him home

When he returns home, he cannot bear to be around humans, even his wife. He sees them as Yahoos and he feels that he is not a Yahoo

Gulliver spends most of his time in his barn “talking” to his horses.

Swift critiques the colonial impulse and demonstration of British power on page 1347

On 1367, he critiques the government by having them call Gulliver a traitor for not taking Houyhnhnm land for Britain.

He is targeting the upper-class English people and their values, generally how people treat each other. He sheds light on the violence and greed and pride of humans. He shows a hopelessness that humans can’t change. Gulliver was made less by the experience.

Tuesday, Nov 27 (10:50 class)
by Sarah Norvell

Overview

We were reminded at the beginning of class that our papers are due Monday by 11pm. See Dr. Seaman’s email regarding her office hours this week if you’d like to see her about revising Paper 2 or for questions about Paper 3. We will talk more about Paper 3 on Thursday after she has a chance to read our topic descriptions.

We went over the final exam study guide (which can be found in “Final Exam prep” under “assignments” on the course website) in detail, and Dr. Seaman asked us to email her with any questions or if you would prefer to take the exam the Thursday before our scheduled Saturday exam. Section A of the final will cover the second half of the course, asking detailed questions about the material. Section B will be cumulative, focusing more on larger observations about the texts. Some tips from Dr. Seaman:

  • You should be able to recognize poems of Donne vs poems of Wyatt, for example
  • Pay close attention to Section B…it is worth 60/200 points!
  • Go through the issues we attended to throughout the class to the point of feeling comfortable with them. No need to reread everything.

The discussion then moved on to Jonathan Swift and satire….

Brief intro into 18th century satire: Just like in Shakespeare’s day when the sonnet was the form your writing took if you wished to prove yourself as a writer, in the 18th century, they wrote satires. A satire is a social or political commentary. It can be historically immediate or universal. Satire has a purpose, not just for entertainment, but for producing something within the audience. Examples of modern day satire would be Jon Stewart or Saturday Night Live. You can learn a lot about a society’s values by examining its satire.

Satire falls into two categories: Horatian (after Horace- 1BCE) or Juvenalian (after Juvenal- 1CE).

Horatian satire– light-hearted, focused on wit, gentle critique to a knowing audience, not a lot of chastising, the satirist can demonstrate his flair with the language.

Juvenalian satire– hard, edgy, the critique is clear, there is no questioning the satirist’s opinion.

Which type of satire does Swift use to present his critique in Gulliver’s Travels? Horatian, because we are still left wondering if we are supposed to be mocking Gulliver or simply viewing the whole thing as ridiculous. If it were Juvenalian satire, we wouldn’t have been left room for interpretation. So what are we supposed to make of this text? What is Swift’s purpose?

Swift said that his purpose was to “vex the world.” He wanted people to feel challenged and uncomfortable. Yet, Swift was also a Tory (along with Pope and Johnson), meaning he was in support of the status quo. Tories believed in resisting change. So does that mean he wasn’t trying to encourage change in his society with his satire?

Swift was kidnapped by his nurse for three years when he was a young boy. He absolutely hated Ireland, yet spent most of his life there. He dreamed of having an important position within the Church of England, where all of his learned artistic friends were. Instead, he was the Dean of St. Patrick’s in Dublin, which was a great position, but Swift only felt slighted. He felt that Ireland was a barbarous wilderness, far away from the exciting developments happening out in cities like London. He eventually contracted a disease that gave him permanent Vertigo-like sensations, making him seem crazy on top of an already strange personality.

So, recall that Oroonoko worked as a romance, a representation of the hero and heroine while also making use of the conventions of a travel narrative. Gulliver’s Travels is instead an imaginary journey, which is a longstanding form used to critique home society, a classic device used for satire.

There are four separate journeys going on here, each are set in different places with different people. (One is a shipwrecked doctor who has been thrown overboard—Gilligan’s Island style.) By Book 3 the readers are thinking, just give up Gulliver.

Gulliver thinks that the tiny Lilliputians with their carefully constructed society are cute, but they are really nasty and prideful. Perhaps this is Swift’s commentary on political parliament and Prime Minister Walpole, whom he hated. In Book 2, Gulliver finds himself in Brobdingnag, where the inhabitants are enormous and grotesque. He realizes that is how he probably appeared to the Lilliputians. Theirs was a gently structured, generous, and humane society. Europe looks pretty bad in comparison to this Utopian community. In Book 3, Gulliver ends up in Laputa, a flying island that hovers above Earth. Swift’s commentary in this section is geared towards the developments in science that were occurring at the time. He mocks it, arguing that people are becoming too abstract in their thinking, and wasting time performing ridiculous experiments.

In Book 4, we are immediately clued into a different view of nature by the way that the tress are naturally growing as the borders of the country. This form of nature is rational, logical, and orderly. The Houyhnhnms are also naturally rational, logical, and orderly…horses. When Gulliver first meets them, he is full of wonder, and sees them as lovely philosophers. When he first sees the Yahoos, he finds them disgusting and hits one of them with his sword. It is important to note that his first response to that unknown is violence, but he is welcomed warmly by the Houyhnhnms, to whom he is also foreign. This section points to the human tendencies of violence toward uncertainties and a sense of self-importance. Gulliver sees the horses talking to each other like philosophers and feels one with them, which is not the case—inappropriate sense of self-importance. He goes home with one a Houyhnhnm master for three years, learning their ways and becoming skilled in their language. They discuss war, law, the economy, civilization, etc. Gulliver can naturally speak the Yahoo’s language, but has to work on the Houyhnhnms.

[Fun fact: Swift began the word “yahoo”]

Gulliver’s life with the Houyhnhnms:

  • Agricultural
  • Distaste for cities
  • Positive model of village life
  • Very rational-work together for the common good
  • Not individualistic-don’t understand lying, superficiality

Why are the Houyhnhnms so invested in the common good? It is rational and reasonable. It is just their nature to be good. They believe that there is no grey area between good and bad, there is always a right and a wrong.

It seems Swift is presenting us with an ideal vision of humanity, but something is missing there: passion. They don’t feel anything for their children, for example, and chose their spouses based on whatever choice would greater benefit the community. They don’t even have words for all of the “wants” that humans have. {Gulliver begins to loathe English, a feeling Swift shared. Swift wanted English to stop changing. He was also not a big fan of humanity. Swift enjoyed some individuals, but felt that groups of people bring out the worst in society.} Keep in mind the Houyhnhnm’s language is horse sounds (hence all the H’s), which reminds us of Gulliver’s possible folly in investing all of this time with their society.

The Houyhnhnms eventually hold a meeting to kick Gulliver out because they discovered that he looks like a Yahoo, and because the land is clearly the divided, there is no question that he doesn’t belong on their side. They do not send him back to the Yahoos, however, because they fear he will inspire rebellion with his intelligence. Instead Gulliver sails off with Yahoo skins and sails, ending up on an Island. He wants to avoid going back to Europe, where his family needs him. Here we get a sense of Gulliver’s selfishness. A Portuguese Captain captures him, brings him home to Portugal, and then sends him home to London with money in his pocket (a very warm, helpful response to a stranger). Gulliver doesn’t want to be around his family, he sees them as disgusting Yahoos. He’s the one who’s been living with horses, but they smell. He spends his time out in the stables talking to the horses—a madman in the midst of human society.

Ok so this ending depiction of Gulliver is one of great mockery. But then what value are we supposed to place on his critique? Humans are negatively perceived throughout, so perhaps the critique is through Gulliver’s responses instead of his observations.

Swift wants to challenge the way things are being done. He feels that no one should be too proud of anything—very much concerned with this inappropriate sense of self-worth.  He is not calling for social reform, however, believing that one cannot change one’s own nature.
Noteworthy Quotes

1) Pg 1334: “The land was divided by long rows of trees, not regularly planted, but naturally growing…”

We are immediately clued into a different view of nature by the way that the tress are naturally growing as the borders of the country. This form of nature is rational, logical, and orderly

2) Pg 1335: “The ugly monster…lifted up his forepaw, whether out of curiosity or mischief I could not tell; but I drew my hanger and gave him a good blow with the flat side of it…”

When he first sees the Yahoos, he finds them disgusting and hits one of them with his sword. It is important to note that his first response to that unknown is violence, but he is welcomed warmly by the Houyhnhnms, to whom he is also foreign. This section points to the human tendencies of violence toward uncertainties and a sense of self-importance.

3) Pg 1347: “Whereupon I enumerated as many sorts as came into my head, with the various methods of dressing them, which could not be done without sending vessels by sea to every part of the world, as well for liquors to drink as for sauces and innumerable other conveniences.”

This conversation that Gulliver has with the Houyhnhnm Master is a direct critique of England’s empire building. During this period, England is praising its ability to bring the world to Europe. But this just shows that they cannot sustain themselves with their own land. Swift views these demoralizing exchanges as contributing to the vanity of females, wasteful luxuries, and diseases.

4) Pg 1367: “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…”

This passage is extremely sarcastic, critiquing England’s expansion of empire. It is a very Juvenalian moment in the text. Swift criticizes England’s notion of “divine right” to the land—America’s Manifest Destiny.

Key Terms

satire

Horatian satire

Juvenalian satire

Imaginary journey form

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