Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift is a 17th- century work of literature that explores the values, structure, inhabitants, and language of four distinct societies. Through the voyages of Swift’s fictional character, Gulliver, and the use of satire and absurd situations, Swift points out the flaws in humanity. In each voyage, the inhabitants provide Gulliver and the readers with new perspectives on the world via language and communication and demonstrate how these facets of the four societies allow Gulliver to understand the cultural and societal values of the people. More specifically in Laputa and in the land of the Houyhnhnms, language and communication are satirized to show the realities of the state in which men live. The Houyhnhnms’
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On the other hand, the Laputans lack of communication reveals their disconnect with relationships and the present moment and how this hinders the growth of a society.
In his fourth voyage, Gulliver experiences living in the Houyhnhnms’ society, where language is much simpler and where malicious words simply do not exist. The Houyhnhnms are initially impressed by Gulliver’s knowledge and intelligence because the Yahoos, or humans of their land, demonstrate no such intellectual acuity. As Gulliver explains Europe’s structure to the master horse in an attempt to make a distinction between himself and the Yahoos, many differences arise between the two societies, as social and political structure and societal values are completely different. For example, Gulliver says, “power, government, war, law, and punishments, and a thousand other things had no terms, wherein that language could express them, which made the difficulty almost insuperable to give my master any conception of what I meant” (225). This shows a huge contrast between …show more content…
They are so absorbed by mathematics and knowledge that they fail in the social aspects of life. Their interests are entirely abstract and they see nothing of the everyday practical world. All of the things that they are occupied with are unrelated to reality and they completely ignore their senses. For example, Gulliver says, “the husband is always so rapt in speculation, that the mistress and the lover may proceed to the greatest familiarities before his face, if he be but provided with paper and implements, and without his flapper at his side” (154). This shows that shapes, equations, and numbers are so important to the Laputans that they have lost their human quality. Their lives are so void of emotions and sentiments because their priorities are simply to acquire as much knowledge as they can. It is clear that they do not fulfill their relationships, as the husband is so detached from reality that he cannot perceive what is right in front of him. Furthermore, they are constantly worrying about the position of planets and the state of the Earth because their calculations suggest that soon nothing might remain of it. Their intense calculations have overtaken their lives to the point where they do not enjoy what life has to offer, but rather always worry about the future and things that they have no control
On the other hand, the Laputans lack of communication reveals their disconnect with relationships and the present moment and how this hinders the growth of a society.
In his fourth voyage, Gulliver experiences living in the Houyhnhnms’ society, where language is much simpler and where malicious words simply do not exist. The Houyhnhnms are initially impressed by Gulliver’s knowledge and intelligence because the Yahoos, or humans of their land, demonstrate no such intellectual acuity. As Gulliver explains Europe’s structure to the master horse in an attempt to make a distinction between himself and the Yahoos, many differences arise between the two societies, as social and political structure and societal values are completely different. For example, Gulliver says, “power, government, war, law, and punishments, and a thousand other things had no terms, wherein that language could express them, which made the difficulty almost insuperable to give my master any conception of what I meant” (225). This shows a huge contrast between …show more content…
They are so absorbed by mathematics and knowledge that they fail in the social aspects of life. Their interests are entirely abstract and they see nothing of the everyday practical world. All of the things that they are occupied with are unrelated to reality and they completely ignore their senses. For example, Gulliver says, “the husband is always so rapt in speculation, that the mistress and the lover may proceed to the greatest familiarities before his face, if he be but provided with paper and implements, and without his flapper at his side” (154). This shows that shapes, equations, and numbers are so important to the Laputans that they have lost their human quality. Their lives are so void of emotions and sentiments because their priorities are simply to acquire as much knowledge as they can. It is clear that they do not fulfill their relationships, as the husband is so detached from reality that he cannot perceive what is right in front of him. Furthermore, they are constantly worrying about the position of planets and the state of the Earth because their calculations suggest that soon nothing might remain of it. Their intense calculations have overtaken their lives to the point where they do not enjoy what life has to offer, but rather always worry about the future and things that they have no control