Gulliver'sTravels: The Great Ideas Program

     It is difficult, for different reasons, to read some of the Great Books. One reason it is challenging is because they have been so altered by other forms such as television shows or movies. Possibly the best example would be Jonathan Swift's, always relevant, Gulliver's Travels. Adler says of the Great Books that, "these books contribute to the worth of the individual life by increasing personal self-knowledge.  The injunction to 'know-thyself' may be a counsel of wisdom for the human race as a whole as well as for the individual man." (137)   
     I think Adler says this because he recognizes Jonathan Swift's classic of satire as a great way of helping us to know ourselves as particular people, and the human condition in general.  I do know of Jonathan Swift's Lilliputians both in the work Gulliver's Travels and in my daily life! Adler uses some of the following adjectives to speak of Jonathan Swift's work, "satirical, biting, bitter, savage, merciless, mocking, contemptuous, misanthropic." (139)   
     Long debated is what exactly Jonathan Swift is attempting to do in this work.  No doubt, part of what he was doing was looking very carefully and critically at the age in which he lived.  Certainly, we could apply some of his insights to our age.  Noteworthy is his criticism of education and scholarship, although some of his sharpest barbs are for politics and politicians.  After reading this dark literary delight and turning to the modern academy and our political milieu, one could speculate that Swift used divination to look into the future.   Adler makes a key point that there are times where Swift moves from satire to hatred, (142) and this is where the Christian reader ought to tread cautiously.  


A few questions for reflection when reading Gulliver's Travels:
1) What are some of the similarities and differences between satire and tragedy?
2) What of the four parts of Gulliver's Travel's is most successful?