azza: Photo

The Dubliners - Clavelitos

In the hostel in Dublin, there was a white board with suggestions of where to go next.

Shannon, Ireland

Swift is actually a crazy person. He uses biting Juvenalian satire in his works and is a coprophiliac. His writing is precise and clear and situationally ironic.

Gulliver’s Travels

as a whole, divided into four books
satire of men’s desires for scientific knowledge
inventive travel through literature - plays around with perspective - makes insignificant things more important and unimportant things insignificant
Gulliver is first a victim of a shipwreck and has lost his glasses so is concerned with his eyes because he lacks protection
Swift wants the reader the see the emphasis on seeing clearly
Gulliver has characteristics of every man - gullible - to gull someone is to trick them - he is easily gulled
the Lilliputans are nasty and petty so we side with Gulliver - he is the gentle, well-meaning person who is not trusted
the little people chain him to an abandoned church - they are small-minded, secretive, waspish, irritable and morally little
they are representative of English people - religious quarrels, etc.
the Lilliputans drug Gulliver while he is eating so they can move him to the church - satiric - fighting over religion
Redrasol explains quarrels to Gulliver and warns him about what the court plans to do with him
Gulliver is kept inside the church as if he is a big elephant - goes out to the end of his chain, as if he were a dog - Swift exaggerates our animalistic characteristics to us make us disgusted with being human
Swift has nasty things to say about women throughout Gulliver’s - misogyny and misanthropy
his works make you not proud to be a human
Gulliver is accused of flirtations with some of the court officials’ wives - disproportionate and gross
Gulliver is convinced to wade across the water to the Blafustus (France) to bring their fleet to Lilliput (Britain) and dispose of the people - he will not do it because he is too kind
because he consumes too much, the Lilliputans plan to kill him off by slowly starving him
progression of uncertainty to complete madness - satirizes Gulliver at the end
progression of animalistic behavior and brutality
being servile to the emperor, breaking the eggs, high heels and low heels (tories and whigs)
with the Brobdingnads, Gulliver is now the small, morally little one
the Brobdingnad king is horrified at the thought of all the animalistic tendencies of Gulliver’s nation
the king realizes Gulliver has left things out and hates it
Swift is famous for his lists of things - comic exaggerations
satire of priests, counselors, lawyers, etc.
last line of Brobdingnads insults human race - Gulliver is tortured in this book
people are insects
Gulliver tries to defend his country
Brobdingnads are not all great - a girl finds Gulliver and gives him to her father who exploits Gulliver for money and keeps him prisoner in a doll house
when Gulliver begins to wear out and get sick, he is sold to Brobdingnadian queen
at the end of Book II, the little girl takes Gulliver to the seashore and Gulliver is dropped into the ocean by an eagle
Europeans see Gulliver in the doll house, rescue him and take him home
Gulliver is bored and goes to a series of islands
the island of Laputa - women’s husbands pay no attention to them and to get their husband’s attention, the men’s ears must be flapped
the island floats above another island that the women climb down to to visit the men below
Swift satirizes a number of projectors who are looking to make changes
island of Strood Broogs - people are immortal on this island - satirizes instinctive hopes and beliefs
there is sometimes a baby born with a mark on his head, signifying his immortality
you would keep aging and aging and aging and as you aged, you got more decrepit
Book IV is the most satirical of human reason
Gulliver arrives in the land of the Winnoms - reasonable horses who are so reasonable they do not feel any emotions
surprised Gulliver can talk because the horses have slaves who are less-developed human beings called yahoos
Gulliver is essentially a yahoo and makes sure he never takes off his clothes in front of them
he is able to cook oatmeal and drink mare’s milk
eventually, Gulliver is attacked by female yahoos one day while he is bathing - misogyny
Gulliver is enamored with this society
Winnoms believe yahoos came about by a sort of mock-Genesis story
they are so rational they lack feelings - everything is very planned and they have countless theories
racism of horses - mate according to color
Winnoms decide Gulliver is dangerous and want him to leave because he is an educated yahoo ad might lead the yahoos in rebellion
Gulliver leaves in a canoe and sees a European ship - he paddles away furiously to keep from being rescued by the ship
he lands on an island of savages and the savages immediately attack him - he would rather be attacked than brought back to Europe
the ship goes after him and the captain sees Gulliver has lost his mind - he tries to reason with Gulliver and brings him back to his family
Gulliver goes to live in the stables with his horses because he cannot stand the smell of humans
Swift’s satire is Juvenalian and extremely harsh

“Modest Proposal”

narrator has come up with a “great idea”
it cannot be right
real proposal is given in italics - do not talk about those plans unless you are willing to carry them out
saw the Irish as servile and too willing to cooperate - crass landowners
Ireland is a cash cow
rich Irish live pretentiously and exploit others
Ireland had a lot of food but it is being exported - not available to poor
eating of babies - got the idea from the Americans
a problem with adolescents - too many - boys are not yummy, girls breed
sold girl in roasts to a lady in Formosa
animosity against women - frivolous and wasteful