Section III

This area is for all comments and discussion about the third section of Gulliver's Travels.

1. On the humorous side (which intrigues younger readers) Gulliver always finds himself in a predicament. When he goes to sea, he always gets off course. Swift was very smart in writing this book to keep the young and the old crowd involved and enjoying the book. This could be why it has lasted so long in history.

2. Laputa, the floating island, had an interesting communication custom, "the flappers." I wish we could use that on kids today. Talk about closed minds. I guess this correlates with the stubbornness of Europe. No free thinking. This island and Balnibarbi both use mathematics as a common point. The Laputans can enjoy things such as music. The Balnibarbi people are really confused. They are the sheep that follow someone and don't know why. Maybe this is a political reference to many of the followers of The Church of England when people wanted religious freedom.

3. The Struldbrugs - Swift undercuts standards of abstract learning. These Struldbrugs could represent mans inner desire - immortality. I read an analysis that Swift makes a point of selfishness being the foundation of the Struldbrugs demise. With the Struldbrugs being so unhappy, experience brings wisdom and mortality to Gulliver.

4. Food for thought - "Human dreams of immortality will develop immense experience and therefore wisdom." Gulliver realized this.

5. When Gulliver goes to Balnibarbi he dips his feet in the antics of their government. He gives suggestions. Why do you think this would be written in?

6. The Academy is really eerie. The useless inventors, workers and project managers are shown at length. Munodi has a beautiful plantation. Is this here as a control group so we know that the island still can be fruitful. What kind of correlation does the Academy represent?

7. Is it the sheeping following the sheep type government Swift thought England had. Queen, Queen, Queen.

OK that should get us started.

This section was scattered that I am going to add my thoughts on a few of the areas and then I will return to reading Marti's analysis. So if there are any redundencies, I appologize.

Gulliver's travels to Laputa seemed to emphasize the 'distance' between government and those that they govern. All of the people on the floating island are distracted by abstract thought, to a point that they can barely function, much less interact with each other or notice the needs of the people below. They seem to be void of any characteristics as people.
They also remain in the sky "Above" the rest, unaware of their detachment.

We begin to see that this culture is willing to 'cut off their nose to spite their face', in the sense that they have a feeling of such superiority that they won't use rudimentary (though most efficient) geometry for their homes, etc.

When Gulliver visits the captial city, we see that Swift is making fun of the qwests of science. In this particular case, the people live in destitution waiting for the 'next great' scientific discovery that will allow them bigger and better. Those who are happy with what they have now (which is clearly nice) are chastised not only for not being supportive and hopeful but also foolish for holding on to old ideas.

I thought that it was interesting to hear that many of the experiments that Swift wrote about, were actually attempted in Europe.

Glubbdubdrib seemed to be a way to emphasize the flaws in every culture, across time. Gulliver is disappointed to find out about the treachery and secrets of the ancient civilizations, especially from the esteemed individuals that he met. I think that this points out our desire to have heroes, and see the best in them, and the disappointment we face when we are forced to see the 'humanity' and flaws in all of us.

I also think that this section made a point of noting the changes over the past few centuries, and how much lower the moral standards are now.

The realization of what becomes of those who live eternally in Luggnagg is emphasized by the previous travel. Gulliver when initially thinks of living forever, thinks of all the great things that could be learned and done. Not only does he then see that the body ages and is unable to acccomplish many tasks, he also makes a note that the lucky ones are those that lose thier minds. The memories of what has happened (the treachery and secrets of the past are all known first hand), the repeated mistakes, the people known, and future ahead, haunts and eventually destroys these people

I think that you have made some really good points here. It was an interesting chapter, and definitely opened up many areas for thought.

I really like the different thoughts that you have. Kelley what is your take on the Struldbrugs?

Poor Gulliver! always unlucky at sea and yet luck enough to be somewhee near land when in crisis! The floating island demonastrates that those in power are so far from their people that they don't have a good handle on what is going on. The king had never even been below. They need to be aroused from their thoughts and daydreams by their servants and the flappers. Perhaps signifying how out of touch the ruling class was in Mr. Swifts day.

WOW! I was surprised to read in the Spark notesI that most of the experiments parodied by Swift had actually been proposed or carried out by British scientists at the time of his writing.

Reading about the Struldbrugs of Luggnagg was interesting. I think many of us, even going back to the early ages would like to seek eternal life, The reality would be much less glorious—I don't think I would want to see the majority of my friends and family grow old and die or even witness the changes upon this planet. Maybei one could choose the time in our lives where we stopped aging, but even then everything around us would change anyway.

I think about how many people in the senior citizen group, have a hard time with the way the world is today. The music, culture, famboyancy, etc. And this is all during thier natural lives. What would it be like for Gulliver or some one of his times to have lived until now. How would they ever be able to cope with the changes, even if their bodies could stay young.

You also make a good point Karen, that I didn't think about, although seeming to be unlucky in his travels, he does always find land, and then when leaving the island is able to get back to England. Pretty Lucky I would say!!