Gulliver's Travels has been my favorite read in this course so far (by far). The main reason that I enjoy reading this book is because of how weird it can get. As we discussed in class, a lot of the weird things that occur in this book have underlining messages, however I like to read this book as if there is no underlining message. Everything I read, I like to forget about the culture during Swift's time, and put myself into the land that Gulliver is traveling. I do understand the importance of the underlining messages and meanings that we discuss in class, but I like to save those ideas for post reading.
One of my favorite paragraphs is the one on page 104 in where Gulliver is explaining how they handle the burial of their dead. "They bury their Dead with their Heads directly downwards, because they hold an Opinion, that in eleven Thousand Moons they are all to rise again; in which Period, the Earth will turn upside down, and by this Means they shall, at their Resurrection, be found ready standing on their Feet" (104). I really found this astonishing, and somewhat funny. They believe in an after life, which is not far fetched whatsoever, but they also believe that the world will turn upside down, and somehow magically come back to life from where they were buried upside down. For whatever reason it reminded me of the scene in Pirates of the Caribbean where the two pirates chain themselves upside down, however when the world "flips" they end up being upside down still.
Another weird passage is the one which we discussed in class. Yes Gulliver had to relieve himself, and yes it was funny, but I did not look into this as much as everyone else was seeming to. I just think that Swift put this passage in the book knowing that his readers might question, "Well if he is chained up and held hostage, doesn't he have to go to the bathroom at some point?" I really just think Swift put this in the book as a sort of clarification to the reader, but like Dr.Cervantes said, it was definitely T.M.I!
I really enjoyed reading your post - I really dig the way you approach the novel. It's actually how I read most of Moll Flanders, especially the dead baby discount bit. Personally, I think the best way to enjoy Gulliver's Travels is to read it as a fantasy novel and then analyze it in class. For me, it really opens up a lot of themes that I didn't even notice the first time around and makes me want to go back and read those parts over again. I definitely have to agree with you on the quality of Swift's writing as well; Gulliver is definitely my favorite thing we've read so far.
ReplyDelete