One
aspect of Swift's style is to make Gulliver (and by extension, Swift's contemporaries) appear
ludicrous through trying to explain human institutions to the various peoples he encounters. His
attempts to describe the various causes of European wars to the leader of the
peaceful Houyhnhnms, is a particularly relevant example:
Difference in opinions hath cost many millions of lives: for instance, whether flesh be bread,
or bread be flesh; whether the juice of a certain berry be blood or wine; whether whistling be a
vice or a virtue; whether it be better to kiss a post, or throw it into the fire...Sometimes the
quarrel between two Princes is to decide which of them shall dispossess a third of his
dominions, where neither of them pretends to any right....
No comments:
Post a Comment