usugullivers travels

2020年12月26日发(作者：卓文君)
READING NOTE
“Gulliver’s Travels”
Riva Song (宋若沄)F09063212
Author:
Jonathan Swift (Irish, born in 1667) Finished in 1726.
General idea of every chapter:
Gulliver’s Travels recounts the story of Lemuel Gulliver, a practical-minded
Englishman trained as a surgeon who takes to the seas when his business fails. In
a deadpan first-person narrative that rarely shows any signs of self-reflection or
deep emotional response, Gulliver narrates the adventures that befall him on
these travels.
Chapter I
Gulliver’s adventure in Lilliput begins when he wakes after his shipwreck to find
himself bound by innumerable tiny threads and addressed by tiny captors who
are in awe of him but fiercely protective of their kingdom. They are not afraid to
use violence against Gulliver, though their arrows are little more than pinpricks.
Chapter II
But overall, they are hospitable, risking famine in their land by feeding
Gulliver, who consumes more food than a thousand Lilliputians combined could.
Gulliver is taken into the capital city by a vast wagon the Lilliputians have
specially built.
Chapter III
He is presented to the emperor, who is entertained by Gulliver, just as
Gulliver is flattered by the attention of royalty. Eventually Gulliver becomes a
national resource, used by the army in its war against the people of Blefuscu,
whom the Lilliputians hate for doctrinal differences concerning the proper way
to crack eggs.
Chapter IV
But things change when Gulliver is convicted of treason for putting out a
fire in the royal palace with his urine and is condemned to be shot in the eyes
with poisoned arrows. The emperor eventually pardons him and he goes to
Blefuscu, where he is able to repair a boat he finds and set sail for England.
Chapter V
After staying in England with his wife and family for two months, Gulliver
undertakes his next sea voyage, which takes him to a land of giants called
Brobdingnag. Here, a farmer discovers him and initially treats him as little more
than an animal, keeping him for amusement. The farmer eventually sells Gulliver
to the queen, who makes him a courtly diversion and is entertained by his
musical talents.
Chapter VI
Social life is easy for Gulliver after his discovery by the court, but not
particularly enjoyable. Gulliver is often repulsed by the physicality of the
Brobdingnagians, whose ordinary flaws are many times magnified by their huge
size.
Chapter VII
Thus, when a couple of courtly ladies let him play on their naked bodies, he
is not attracted to them but rather disgusted by their enormous skin pores and
the sound of their torrential urination. He is generally startled by the ignorance
of the people here—even the king knows nothing about politics.
Chapter VIII
More unsettling findings in Brobdingnag come in the form of various
animals of the realm that endanger his life. Even Brobdingnagian insects leave
slimy trails on his food that make eating difficult. On a trip to the frontier,
accompanying the royal couple, Gulliver leaves Brobdingnag when his cage is
plucked up by an eagle and dropped into the sea.
Chapter IX
Next, Gulliver sets sail again and, after an attack by pirates, ends up in
Laputa, where a floating island inhabited by theoreticians and academics
oppresses the land below, called Balnibarbi. The scientific research undertaken
in Laputa and in Balnibarbi seems totally inane and impractical, and its residents
too appear wholly out of touch with reality.
Chapter X
Taking a short side trip to Glubbdubdrib, Gulliver is able to witness the
conjuring up of figures from history, such as Julius Caesar and other military
leaders, whom he finds much less impressive than in books.
Chapter XI
After visiting the Luggnaggians and the Struldbrugs, the latter of which are
senile immortals who prove that age does not bring wisdom, he is able to sail to
Japan and from there back to England.
Chapter XII
Finally, on his fourth journey, Gulliver sets out as captain of a ship, but after
the mutiny of his crew and a long confinement in his cabin, he arrives in an
unknown land. This land is populated by Houyhnhnms, rational-thinking horses
who rule, and by Yahoos, brutish humanlike creatures who serve the
Houyhnhnms.
Chapter XIII
Gulliver sets about learning their language, and when he can speak he
narrates his voyages to them and explains the constitution of England. He is
treated with great courtesy and kindness by the horses and is enlightened by his
many conversations with them and by his exposure to their noble culture. He
wants to stay with the Houyhnhnms, but his bared body reveals to the horses
that he is very much like a Yahoo, and he is banished.
Chapter XIV
Gulliver is grief-stricken but agrees to leave. He fashions a canoe and makes
his way to a nearby island, where he is picked up by a Portuguese ship captain
who treats him well, though Gulliver cannot help now seeing the captain—and
all humans—as shamefully Yahoolike. Gulliver then concludes his narrative with
a claim that the lands he has visited belong by rights to England, as her colonies,
even though he questions the whole idea of colonialism.
Comment
One of the most interesting questions about Gullivers Travels is whether
the Houyhnhnms represent an ideal of rationality or whether on the other hand
they are the butt of Swift's satire. In other words, in Book IV, is Swift poking fun
at the talking horses or does he intend for us to take them seriously as the
proper way to act? If we look closely at the way that the Houyhnhnms act, we can
see that in fact Swift does not take them seriously: he uses them to show the
dangers of pride.

First we have to see that Swift does not even take Gullver seriously. For instance,
his name sounds much like gullible, which suggests that he will believe anything.
Also, when he first sees the Yahoos and they throw excrement on him, he
responds by doing the same in return until they run away. He says,
discover some more rational being,
most rational being there is. This is why Swift refers to Erasmus Darwins
discovery of the origin of the species and the voyage of the Beagle-to show how
Gulliver knows that people are at the top of the food chain. But if Lemule Gulliver
is satirized, so are the Houyhnhnms, whose voices sound like the call of castrati.
They walk on two legs instead of four, and seem to be much like people. As
Gulliver says,
creatures playing the flute and dancing a Vienese waltz. To my mind, they
seemed like the greatest humans ever seen in court, even more dextrous than the
Lord Edmund Burke
but his admiration for the Houyhnhnms is short-lived because they are so
prideful. For instance, the leader of the Houyhnhnms claims that he has read all
the works of Charles Dickens, and that he can singlehandedly recite the names of
all the Kings and Queens of England up to George II. Swift subtly shows that this
Houyhnhnms pride is misplaced when, in the middle of the intellectual
competition, he forgets the name of Queen Elizabeths husband.

Swifts satire of the Houyhnhnms comes out in other ways as well. One of the
most memorable scenes is when the dapple grey mare attempts to woo the horse
that Guenivre has brought with him to the island. First she acts flirtatiously,
parading around the bewildered horse. But when this does not have the desired
effect, she gets another idea:
top of a tree, the sorrel nag dashed off and returned with a yahoo on her back
who was yet more monstrous than Mr. Pope being fitted by a clothier. She
dropped this creature before my nag as if offering up a sacrifice. My horse sniffed
the creature and turned away.
seriously as a failed attempt at courtship, and that consequently we should see
the grey mare as an unrequited lover. But it makes more sense if we see that
Swift is being satiric here: it is the female Houyhnhnm who makes the move,
which would not have happened in eighteenth-century England. The Houyhnhm
is being prideful, and it is that pride that makes him unable to impress Gullivers
horse. Gulliver imagines the horse saying, Sblood, the notion of creating the bare
backed beast with an animal who had held Mr. Pope on her back makes me
queezy .

A final indication that the Houyhnmnsare not meant to be taken seriously occurs
when the leader of the Houynhms visits Lilliput, where he visits the French Royal
Society. He goes into a room in which a scientist is trying to turn wine into water
(itself a prideful act that refers to the marriage at Gallilee). The scientist has been
working hard at the experiment for many years without success, when the
Houyhnmn arrives and immediately knows that to do:
stepped through the doorway than he struck upon a plan. Slurping up all the
wine in sight, he quickly made water in a bucket that sat near the door

He has accomplished the scientists goal, but the scientist is not happy, for his
livelihood has now been destroyed. Swifts clear implication is that even though
the Houyhnhmns are smart, they do not know how to use that knowledge for the
benefit of society, only for their own prideful agrandizement.

Throughout Gullivers Travels, the Houyhnhms are shown to be an ideal gone
wrong. Though their intent might have been good, they don't know how to do
what they want to do because they are filled with pride. They mislead Gulliver
and they even mislead themselves. The satire on them is particularly well
explained by the new born Houyhnhm who, having just been born, exclaims,


Vocabulary
1. be weary of : be bored with
2. concourse:大厅
3. curious: interested
4. esteem: respect
5. dwelt:live
6. custody:监护
7. peruse:浏览
8. circumstantial:间接的
9. veracity:honest
10. proverb:格言
11. scribble:乱写
12. volume:book
13. bold:noticeable
14. sailor:水手
15. longitude:深度
16. latitude:维度
17. wherein:在其中
18. gratify:satisfy
19. capt:caption
20. consent:agree
21. much less: 更不用说
22. pious:虔诚的
23. reverence:respect
24. interpolator:串改者
25. decent:得体的
26. nay:甚至
27. discourse:谈话
28. minced:装腔作势
29. apt:intend
30. innuendo:讽刺
31. leagues:联盟
32. yahoo:粗鲁的人
33. herd:兽群
34. brutes:残忍的
35. detestable:可恶的
36. hither :这边的
37. Reposed:建立
38. Intreaties:乞求
39. Utterly:彻底的
40. Amendment:改善
41. Precept:认知
42. Hath :有
43. Corruptions:腐败
44. Behold:看
45. Pleader:辩论者
46. Tincture:迹象
47. Pyramids:金字塔
48. Levees:堤坝
49. Weed:除草
50. Merit:缺点
51. Disgracer:耻辱
52. Prose:散文
53. Verse:诗
54. Quench:解渴
55. Deducible:可推论的
56. Vice:恶习
57. Subject:受制于。。
58. Libels:诋毁
59. Memoirs:回忆录
60. Bundles:
61. Confound:是混淆
62. Manuscript:手稿
63. Judicious:明智
64. Candid:坦白的
65. Mariner:水手
66. Fangled:新流行的
67. Insomuch:就此程度而言
68. Censure:责备
69. Houyhnhnms:人马
70. Confess:承认
71. Lilliput:小人国
72. Brobdingrag:大人国
73. Presumptuous:专横的
74. Dispute:辩论
75. Brutes:粗鲁的人
76. Jabber:快而含糊不清
77. Neighing:马嘶声
78. Illustrious:著名的
79. Compass:包围
80. Infernal:可憎的
81. Equivocating:说话模菱两可
82. Forbear:忍耐
83. Vexatious:麻烦的
84. Absurd:荒谬的
85. Inducement:诱因
86. Shipwrecked:海难
87. Shore:海滨
88. Scanty:稀疏的
89. Apprentice:学徒
90. Eminent:杰出的
91. Hosier:织袜者
92. Brethren:同胞
93. Consult:商量
94. Ashore:在岸上
95. Facility:设备
96. Suffice:足够
97. Spied:找出
98. Rowed:划船
99. Computation:估计
100. Flurry:飓风
101. Vessel:船
102. Abated:减轻
103. Declivity:下坡
104. Conjecture:推测
105. Reckon:估计
106. Slender:细长的
107. Ligature:绳索
108. Armpit:腋窝
109. Thighs:大腿
110. Posture:姿势
111. Chin:下巴
112. Quiver:颤抖
113. Wrench:猛扭
114. Peg:钉
115. Volley:齐射
116. Spear:矛
117. Buff jerkin:短上衣
118. pierce:刺穿
119. prudent:精明的
120. whereof:关于那事
121. submissive:顺从的
122. famished:极度饥饿的
123. morsel
124. thither:向那边
125. loin:腰
126. mutton:羊肉
127. lark:百灵鸟
128. loaves:大块考过的食物
129. musket:步炮
130. dexterity:敏捷
131. hogsheads:大桶