A Critical Analysis of Colonialism in Gullivers Travels 论《格列佛游记》中的殖民主义文献综述

 2021-10-21 05:10

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A Brief Review of Gullivers TravelsIn 1667, Jonathan Swift was born into an immigrant family of Dublin, Ireland. He was a posthumous, and to make matters worse, his mother returned England soon after she gave birth to him, so Swift was fostered by his uncle. Undoubtedly, the readers can see that a dysfunctional family which lacked paternal and maternal love had a certain impact on Swifts disposition and character.Gulliver's Travels is a masterpiece of Jonathan Swift, a famous British writer in the 18th century. During this period, British social life was extremely unstable, full of changes and turbulence. In that century, Britains national strength greatly developed, and its industrial revolution had a solid foundation. At the same time, the desire and yearning of the new class for overseas colonies also reached a peak. The novel, written in the mode of a travel book, is made up of four extraordinary extraneous voyages made by Lemuel Gulliver, the protagonist. Gulliver's Travels is an outstanding satirical novel in the history of English literature. In the voice of the protagonist Gulliver, the novel tells the readers about his strange experiences in the process of traveling around the world. The novel consists of four parts and each part relates one voyage to remote foreign lands. In the first part, Gulliver horned in an odd land, dwelt by mysterious residents who were extremely dysplastic in that their shape was no more than six inches high. The country was called Lilliput, where another Lilliput (Blefuscu) invaded from the sea. Gulliver helped Lilliput win the war. In the second part, Gulliver went to the sea again. He traveled to Brobdingnag dwelt by residents who were startlingly tall. In the third part, after returning home, Gulliver took another boat out to sea soon after his ship was hijacked by pirates and he was rescued by a flying island (Laputa). And then Gulliver came to places such as Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdrib, Luggnagg and Japan. In the fourth part, the writer describes in details what Gulliver saw and heard in an unknown country. The leading character went to sea again and came to the country of the Houyhnhnms, where horses were the dominators with reason and wisdom while Yahoos were brutes and precipitously looked like human beings. Influenced by the various virtues of the Houyhnhnms, he was determined to stay in the country, but finally had to return home in a small boat. Whole works through the hero in four countries exist in a strange adventure and reality, which profoundly revealed the 18th century British ruling class of the decadent and dark, establishment of mercenaries. To a certain extent, it shows the brutal colonial wars, which also reflects the colonists struggle against aggression.This novel has been highly praised by people with respect to the following aspects. The first aspect is its closely comprehensive content, because this novel is regarded as an overall view of Britain in the 18th century and almost touches upon every aspect of English society ranging from politics, history, religion, philosophy, culture, science, literature, architecture, sculpture and administration, legislature and military matters. The second one is its bitter and acid satires, chastising undesired and unendurable things in a hugely spicy tone. The third aspect is its profound meaning, causing readers deep hypothesis on human nature and human society. So the status and weight of this novel in the literary circle is tacit.Literature ReviewFor many years, many critics and researchers have analyzed Gulliver's Travels from different aspects, mainly concentrating on the novel itself, attaining plenty wonderful achievements.Some critics focused on the literary satire in the novel, which was the most fruitful aspect of the research. The research in this aspect was focused primarily on Swifts jaw-dropping satire art in Gulliver's Travels, trying to reveal his suspicion and criticism on European rationalism, as well as on his thinking for human society in the 18th century. Thomas Sheridan argued that Gulliver's Travels meant to be a lesson to mankind rather than dirty words from a mad man. (Sheridan, 2006). Meanwhile, lots of scholars also learned the writing skills in this novel. For example, Vaughan Hart acquired many ironical skills such as irony, imagination, and exaggeration.Some scholars have studied the novel from the perspective of alienation. This kind of research used the theory to explain the alienation of some characters in Gulliver's Travels, such as the outlines in Lilliput, who were the colossus in Brobdingang in the eyes of ordinary people and the thrown philosophers in Laputa. Such studies, for instance, The Alienation of the Characters in Gulliver's Travels produced by Wang Lingling, (2007) were trying to show Swifts deep concern for the human condition and his great ability to observe the mental state of people in capitalist society.Some scholars have analyzed Gulliver's Travels from the perspective of feminist criticism. This kind of research has arisen two questions about Gulliver's Travels. The first question is that Gulliver's Travels reflected patriarchy in what aspect, and the second question is that Gulliver's Travels embodied patriarchy in what way. Such findings can be found in A Feminist Reading of Gulliver's Travels written by Chen Xiuyun (2010).Some researchers have analyzed Gulliver's Travels from the perspective of education. This kind of research focused on the importance of enlightenment, educational forms, humanistic education and moral education of the travel books to dig out the philosophy of humanistic education in Gulliver's Travels and the unique educational importance of this novel. The readers can see this from Li Hongbins works, who argued two different kinds of educational methods in this novel (2009).Some scholars have also conducted comparative researches. These research accomplishments were focused on similarities and differences between this novel and other works such as Flowers in the Mirror. For example, Liu Lili (2013) in her Comparative of Flowers in the Mirror and Gulliver's Travels found that there are a lot of similarities between the two works in theme, style, writing technique and creation structure.

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