The evidence of the might of the British Empire still very
much exists today. Although debating that the US of A is the biggest kid on the
block is fairly easy, the political structure of our global community is as
much based on Victorian influence as it is American prowess. Many of the
countries that were previously under the thumb of Britain are now close allies
(including the US) and members of the Commonwealth of Nations (excluding the
US). The incredible amount of power and control Britain held over the world in
the 1700’s is still very easy to see and the fallout of that power even easier
to criticize.
And this criticism isn’t new. Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift is a thinly-veiled satire of
the British cultural, economic, and militaristic authority. At first as a
surgeon for different naval expeditions and then later a captain, Gulliver, our
protagonist, finds himself shipwrecked so many times as to make the reader
wonder how he can still convince himself to get into a boat. And after every
lost ship, Gulliver manages to find some fantastical society of humans or other
creatures that he can learn from and associate himself with.
Each of these new societies is a mirror of some aspect of
Britain or human nature. Summarizing the Orwell institute’s Politics vs. Literature: An Examination of Gulliver’s Travels, Swift uses each of these societies to point out some
flaw in British society. Either by likeness or juxtaposition, the exaggerated caricatures
that Gulliver meets reflect a trait that Swift feels needs to be improved.
These aren’t hidden in any way and in at least one case a part of the book was omitted
from publishing so as not to stir up civil contention.
British authority might have defined Johnathan Swift’s day
and age, but that didn’t stop him and other writers from pointing out the
flaws.
Image credit to: Burns Library, Boston College
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