In the novel Gulliver's Travels, by Jonathan Swift, Swift has Gulliver discover a unique society that is similar to a miniature version of the real world. This particular society calls themselves the Lilliputians. As Gulliver passes time in this bizarre world he finds out that the people that become officials in the government are chosen based on their ability to dance on rope. At first, I just assumed it to be a weird custom that the Lilliputians followed, and I was interested in their other customs. However, my curiosity about the rope dancing kept bothering me. As I was thinking about that some more, I soon came to realize that this was the only real qualification that a person in their society must have to become a government official. This makes absolutely no sense because these people aren't tested for their ability to actually run a government, but only for a trait that has almost no relation to their job. They even test current officials by making them dance on rope again to prove that they are still "qualified" for the job. Swift uses this irrational qualification to satirize the government of the real world, specifically England. He characterizes politics in general as faulty and ineffective since the most qualified people to run a government aren't necessarily chosen and only the people who, in this case, are good at impressing others are chosen. I found this satirization really interesting because Swift never explicitly says how ridiculous this qualification is and the fact that this can be easily related to today's world.
First of all I love the fact that you talk about your curiosity and like curious George!!! Good idea! Next,that is really interesting that Swift never depicts that it's satire and that he actually writes that the only qualification is walking a silly rope. I think it's a really interesting satire and many people could argue that it really doesn't seem far from the truth. Seems like a really interesting book
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I love the fact that you talk about your curiosity and like curious George!!! Good idea! Next,that is really interesting that Swift never depicts that it's satire and that he actually writes that the only qualification is walking a silly rope. I think it's a really interesting satire and many people could argue that it really doesn't seem far from the truth. Seems like a really interesting book
ReplyDeleteConcerning the case of the Rope Dancers: I believe that it is in fact a very important and relevant skill in determining who becomes a government official even to this day. Take for example the most current election, where Trump showed himself to be much more able at dancing on the political rope than Clinton; where Clinton simply stood on the rope with her moderate and safe policies, Trump would perform dangerous flip after flip with despicable comments, and lean far over towards the white supremacists, remaining on one toe, and pull himself up acrobatically right when it looked he would most definitely fall off.
ReplyDeleteInteresting commentary, Peter. For both of you it might be beneficial to do a little search about what was going on in the politics of Swift's time. Keep in mind that Swift is Irish...they have had a very strained relationship with England for most of the nation's history. Let me know if I can help with this difficult text.
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