Assignments for Session 3.

The Enlightenment in Europe

I. Jonathan Swift
“Introduction”
1. What does Swift allegorically imply in the narrative of Lilliput and of
Brobdingnag?
Jonathan Swift's works Through the Lilliput - Blefuscu battle, Gulliver's Travels
satirizes Western warfare. Swift's humorous depiction of conflict implies that
Western fights are small-minded, stupid, and ultimately futile.
2. What is the main content and tone/voice of part IV of the novel?
During the first three journeys, Gulliver's tone is unsophisticated and naive; in the
fourth (part IV), it becomes jaded and nasty. Jonathan Swift's purpose is sardonic
and caustic throughout the work.
Quotations of Gulliver’s Travels
3. In chapter 1 of part IV: who are Gulliver’s companions in his journey this time?
What is the
main purpose of his journey this time? How do his sailors treat him?
Gulliver's companions are his crew in Chapter I of Part IV; sadly, several of his
crew members were ill during the voyage, necessitating the hiring of new crew
members. Regrettably, the individuals hired are pirates who plot a rebellion on the
ship and abandon Gulliver on an island. In this passage, the sailors treat Gulliver
with betrayal, hostility, and ingratitude.
4. What does Gulliver do when he is left in the island? What are the characteristics
of the
island? What creatures does he encounter in the island? What are their features?
When Gulliver is abandoned on the island, he is attacked by a swarm of "odious"
animals that resemble monkeys and attack him by climbing trees and defecating on
him. He came across the Yahoos and Houyhnhnms. Gulliver characterizes the
Yahoos as "Their heads and breasts were hidden under lush hair... while the rest of
their bodies were exposed... They lacked tails and frequently stood on their hind
legs..." "In all my travels, I've never seen such an awful beast," he continues.
Gulliver describes defending himself against these creatures by pulling his sword
and backing up to a tree for cover, but they then climb the tree and begin
defecating on him. Gulliver's portrayal of the horses, the Houyhnhnms, on the
other hand, is almost idyllic: "The behavior of these animals was... orderly and
rational, sharp and prudent."
5. What is the horses’ attitude to Gulliver when he encounters them? What does he
think about
them?
The horses are cold to Gulliver at first, until the Houyhnhnm master orders the
other Houyhnhnms to treat Gulliver with kindness in order to make Gulliver feel
better and more communicative. Gulliver admires horses and considers them to be
orderly, rational, peaceful, and considerate, yet he is startled to meet horses who
can talk and reason. Houyhnhnms live in a stable, calm, trustworthy, and
reasonable civilisation. Gulliver likes the company of the Houyhnhnms to that of
the Yahoos.
6. When entering the building, which is the horses’ house, what does Gulliver
think of when he
sees the hosts? Who else does he see in addition to the hosts? What is the
relationship
between these creatures to the hosts?
When walking into the building. The stall for horses is a large space with a smooth
clay floor with a rack and manager on one side. Gulliver imagines his endless
humiliation as the host, the mare. In addition, he encountered three of those
repulsive animals. These entities serve as servants to the host.
7. What is the food do the Yahoos eat?
The Yahoos eat the meat of several animals, including asses and dogs, as well as a
cow killed by accident or disease.
11. How does Gulliver finally find food for him? What are those kinds of food?
When he saw a cow pass by, he signaled for milk and drank a whole bowl with
relish. Following that, he pounded and beat oats between two stones, then added
water to make a paste or cake, which he roasted over a fire and ate warm with
milk. (For instance, diet)
II. Voltaire
1. What kinds of genre are Voltaire’s writings of? What genre is his Candide
considered to be?
Almost all of Voltaire's literary works, including those classed as fiction, include
political and philosophical themes. The majority of his works, which comprised
romance, drama, and satire, were polemics intended to express radical political and
intellectual ideals. Candide by Voltaire can be classified as satire, parody,
picaresque, or bildungsroman. The work is clearly a satire and parody of
Enlightenment thinkers such as Liebniz.
2. Who is the target Voltaire aims at to satirize in his Candide?
Voltaire's satire has numerous targets. Religion, rulers and the state, war, avarice,
social pride, and various sorts of stupidity are among the most important.
III. Rousseau
1. What is the similarity between Voltaire’s Candide and Rousseau’s Confessions
in terms of the
characters described in their works?
The subject of The Confessions is portrayed as a man who is continuously
attempting to express his natural instincts while being limited by society's
standards and preconceptions. The main character in this tale is similar to Candide
in terms of purity and pleasant thoughts. Tracing him is less thrilling than chasing
Candide, although his claims to have had several tremendous psychic hits. To
Voltaire, the character's experience is more vital than his personality; to Rousseau,
his own nature is far more important than all that happens to him.
2. What happened after the narrator was born? How does his father react to that?
After the birth of the narrator's brother, his father was forced to return to their
hometown. Many men dedicated themselves to their mother during the time
because of her beauty, education, and talent. This drove his mother to persuade her
husband to leave his current job. And his birth was a bit of an accident. The
narrator was born as a fragile, frail baby, and his mother died soon after. His father
never spoke of his wife's death, but he was heartbroken. Despite the fact that the
narrator abducted his wife, his father believes that he reconnected with her through
the narrator. His father is always conversing with the narrator, whom he believes to
be his wife. He recalled his first wife until he died in his second wife forty years
later.
3. What happens to the narrator when he is a boy at the age of 8, and what is the
result of this
situation? How does he become cynical?
He was disciplined by a thirty-year-old woman when he was eight years old, and it
impacted his inclinations, desires, and passions for the rest of his life. "When I
became a man, that childish taste, instead of vanishing, only associated with
theother. This folly joined to a natural timidity, has always prevented
my being veryenterprising with women, so that I have passed my days in
languishing in silence forthose I most admired, without daring to disclose my
wishes."
4. What are the two contrasted characteristics the narrator feels inside of him when
he thinks
of his own personality? What is his activity affected by them?
When he writes, he goes to great lengths to organize his thoughts. They focus on
his imagination and ferment until they melt, heat up, and cause a throbbing; in this
condition of agitation, he cannot see clearly, cannot type a single letter, and must
wait for it to pass.
5. How does the narrator describe his feeling of uncertainty in his mind? What is
the action he
uses to test his feeling one day when he is having meditation on this subject?
"I asked myself: "In what state I am? If I were to die this moment, should I be
damned?" According to my Jansenists, there was no doubt about the matter; but,
according to my conscience, I thought differently; always fearful and prey to cruel
uncertainty, I had recourse to the most ridiculous expedients to escape from it, for
which I would unhesitatingly lock anyone up as a lunatic if I saw him doing as I
did." He metallically entertained himself one day, while meditating on this dismal
issue, by throwing stones against the trunks of trees with his customary good aim
but without hard-hitting one. While engaged in this practical exercise, it occurred
to me to draw a prognostic fromit to calm my anxiety. He said: "I will throw this
stone at the tree opposite; if I hit it, I amsaved if I miss it."
Writing
Gulliver, Travel, and Empir el, and Empire
https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2140&context=clcweb
Swift’s Use of Satire in Gulliver’s Travels
https://www.academicresearchjournals.org/IJELC/PDF/2015/October/Tyagi.pdf
The Polticial Implications of Gulliver 's Travels
https://digitalcommons.xula.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
article=1066&context=xulanexus