Figurative Language in the Third Book of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels

“And though I (…) understand all mysteries and all knowledge and have no charity, I am nothing.”

/St Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 13, 2 /

Each of the four books of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels discusses one aspect of human nature. The discussions’ language is rather satirical than an earnest tone. The first book is about the physical aspect, the voyage to Brobdingnag focuses on the “Homo politicus”, the political man. The third book is about intellect, while in the land if the Houyhnhnms we can “meet” the moral man. Now I am going to discuss the appearance of the intellectual aspect in the figurative language of book three.
The first and the most basic thing to make clear in connection with the Laputa part are the Enlightenment, which was the first clearly defined manifestation of modernity. Swift wrote in opposition to Enlightenment and as an “enemy” of modernity. Reading it now at the beginning if the 21st century we can see, that maybe of all these our age can be a catastrophic conclusion.
There are four points here I need to write about. Among these the first is Rationalism and Cartesianism. In connection with these tendencies we can notice a radical tendency to abstract truth into purely intellectual concepts. Rationalism can also be characterised by a bold rejection of the experience and wisdom of past.
The next tendency is experimental and theoretical science fathered by Bacon and Galileo, later vindicated by Newton and propagandised by the Royal Society in England. Here began the secularisation of society and human values. It proclaimed great promises to people such as seizing mastery of nature, abolition of all mysteries and (at least by implication) abolition of religion.
The third discussion point concerning Enlightenment is the appearance of a new conception of man. As a result of rationalism and science they said that there is an essential goodness of human nature. This sentimental tone of voice irritated Swift.
The fourth and last point is the increasing power of centralised government. A power like this divorced from human needs and did not care about solving social problems becoming more and more serious.
Now –after the introduction- it is important to see how Swift “felt himself” in such “era”. Above all, he was unambiguously against abstraction. To be more exact, his hatred directed against the abstract man. The incorporations of this type in Swift’s age were existing and acting within semi-human or (to be stricter) dehumanised racial or professional groups.
We can be sure, that –writing about the Laputians- Swift had Descartes in mind. That Descartes, who had forgotten that God created man a bit lower than angels who are pure intelligences. Swift argues that this mistake can lead people into real danger. The danger is in holding an unrealistic view of potentialities of human nature, and expecting that men can somehow transcend their limitations and become –shall we say- angels. So the theme Swift chose as the spoil of his satire is the divorce of man and good sense in the modern world. The philosophers of the Flying Island are completely lost in their abstractions. Gulliver can experience a great neglect of all practical reality including their own wives, or we can remember the tailor who made Gulliver’s clothes that fit him not at all. It is interesting that the tailor made them in six days, which can be a parallel to Creation. By this Swift satirises the man who wants to pretend God, or become even greater, cleverer and more successful than God. And if the philosophy does not work, they do not change their mind. Rather than making their mathematics follow the natural shapes of things, they change the things to fit their mathematics. In connection with this is the willing to give up old life for the sake of a new one based only on wishes and dreams.
The Flying Island is not only a trope for science but also an image of the concentration of political power in the hands of a clique motivated by pure theory remote from human needs.
The word “Laputa” comes from the Spanish noun “La Puta” which means “the whore”. So it is the symbol of such government that is controlled by madmen who govern rationally (scientifically), not morally. Such a government can (figuratively; in the book really) withhold Sun and rain (that are the basis elements of living) or even tyrannously crush all opposition by setting its great weight upon the land below.
On the other hand the island is much like a heavenly state. Just like the Heavenly Jerusalem where the materials (in the Bible its bricks made of gemstones) are on their original place. This was the aim of the alchemists in the Middle Ages.
The Laputians have one eye turned inward and the other turned toward the zenith. At first sight I think it is quite a positive feature. He is a man who looks deep inside him and up to the sky toward the transcendent. It is just like aschetism. But (as it turns out later) the lack of looking at Earth, the people around, the surrounding world, leads to the same mistake: blindness to truth.
In Laputa using a flapper is the only potential way of talking to people. This way of communication where man has to shout at his partner, or he has to touch or even hit him in order to wake up and pay attention, refers to Swift’s satirical language. In such a serious case gentleness is in vain. Man needs to shock people to be understood.
The lack of sense for poetry can also be an important discussion point. Poetry expresses the rhythm of life; its images capture the colour of reality. There are colours in Laputa: blind men mix them. They try to write poems, but not by themselves. They are trying to fabricate a machine that creates pieces of literature on its own using the words given to it. Modern science cannot understand poetry and hence poetry can never be a science of man.
Here I would like to write down something interesting or rather terrifying “news” I heard few weeks ago. One of my friends told me that he was shown a computer programme that writes distichons automatically or in a topic given by the user. At first it may be ridiculous, but as for me, it is frightening. Nearly three hundred years ago a writer tried to find out the most unimaginable nonsense ideas to make his laputian scientists as ridiculous as he can. Now, at the down of the 21st century, a crazy guy makes it real just because he has nothing to do in his boredom.
In the Luggnagg the desire for immortality or the fear of death leads men to all kinds of vain hopes and wishes. This whole part echoes the views prevailing in England after the Reformation on the importance of limiting church lands especially those of the Roman Catholic Church. Modern times are characterised by an immortal body inhabiting - but not truly part of - the society. I think it is the satire of modern medical sciences. In Swift’s time medicine was not that well developed, but they already had some knowledge to lengthen life a bit. Maybe this Swift’s age was the point when they started looking the quantity of life and not the quality.
Once I heard a comparison of western and eastern medicine. Let us look at human body as a machine that is broken down and is has a red alarm light. Western medicine removes the light bulb, eastern medicine fixes the machine. The outcomes look the same: there is no red-light signal anymore, but we know which one is the right process.
I think the Flying island is also a symbol for this: not only the thoughts, the philosophers and scientists are flying, but the whole island, so the foundation, the basis itself. Not the symptoms are to be healed but the basis, the roots. Society is deeply corrupt, and our job is not only to solve the social problems of our age but also to go deeper until we reach the first lie, the very first evil thought.
What Swift’s writing method, was the same that Aldous Huxley did in his ‘Brave New World’: he looked around in his age, then looked back in the past, drawn these two points on a piece of paper, connected them with a line and then lengthened this line towards the future. So their secret was not in their prophetic genius, but only in their widely open eyes in their own age. That is why their utopia is terribly exact, and that is why they could hit the target so precisely. BIBLIOGRAPHY

The list of works I used for collecting the most important discussion points
(Of mine or I ‘borrowed’ from the authors named below).

Holt Monk, Samuel. “The Pride of Lemuel Gulliver.” In: I. Robert A. Greenberg, ed. II. William Bowman Piper. The Writings of Jonathan Swift.,. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc, 1973.
Rawson, C. J. “Gulliver and the Gentle Reader.” In: I. Robert A. Greenberg, ed. II. William Bowman Piper. The Writings of Jonathan Swift., W. W. Norton & Company, Inc, 1973.
Williams, Kathleen. “The Fantasy World of Laputa.” In: ed., Richard Gravil. “Swift: Gulliver’s Travels. A Casebook.” The Macmillan Press, Hong Kong, 1994.

Bibliography: The list of works I used for collecting the most important discussion points (Of mine or I ‘borrowed’ from the authors named below). Holt Monk, Samuel. “The Pride of Lemuel Gulliver.” In: I. Robert A. Greenberg, ed. II. William Bowman Piper. The Writings of Jonathan Swift.,. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc, 1973. Rawson, C. J. “Gulliver and the Gentle Reader.” In: I. Robert A. Greenberg, ed. II. William Bowman Piper. The Writings of Jonathan Swift., W. W. Norton & Company, Inc, 1973. Williams, Kathleen. “The Fantasy World of Laputa.” In: ed., Richard Gravil. “Swift: Gulliver’s Travels. A Casebook.” The Macmillan Press, Hong Kong, 1994.