Abstract
This essay investigates Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, spotlighting a central message of his, warning humankind against the folly of vanity. Following his protagonist, Lemuel Gulliver, through four fantastical worlds, one begins to see a pattern of unwinding humanity. Before arriving in Lilliput (the first whimsical land), Gulliver is a typical human being, with typical hard-wired narcissism. After years of voyaging, and after a memorable stay with the Yahoos, Gulliver rejects his humanity as being brutish, vain, and egocentric. However, banished from Houyhnhnm Land, he finds solace and sanity in horse stables. Perhaps this seems excessive, but this reader attributes this radicalism to Swift’s central message: egocentrism is often times unwarranted, but always a defining human quality. Without vanity, would we not just be horses in stables?
Faculty Sponsors
Dr. Lynn Wolf
Project Type
Event
Location
Alvin Sherman Library
Start Date
4-13-2012 1:00 PM
End Date
4-13-2012 5:30 PM
Lemuel, the Egocentric Human
Alvin Sherman Library
This essay investigates Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, spotlighting a central message of his, warning humankind against the folly of vanity. Following his protagonist, Lemuel Gulliver, through four fantastical worlds, one begins to see a pattern of unwinding humanity. Before arriving in Lilliput (the first whimsical land), Gulliver is a typical human being, with typical hard-wired narcissism. After years of voyaging, and after a memorable stay with the Yahoos, Gulliver rejects his humanity as being brutish, vain, and egocentric. However, banished from Houyhnhnm Land, he finds solace and sanity in horse stables. Perhaps this seems excessive, but this reader attributes this radicalism to Swift’s central message: egocentrism is often times unwarranted, but always a defining human quality. Without vanity, would we not just be horses in stables?
