Gulliver’s Travels: An Example of Alienation

Written by the Irish author Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), and first published in 1726, Gulliver’s Travels can be roughly summed up as a personal narrative of several voyages that Capt. Lemuel Gulliver goes on within a time span of 16 years, extending from 1699 to 1715. The novel begins with Gulliver’s own narrative of his first voyage to Lilliput (the country of dwarfs), continues with his next voyages to Brobdingnag (the country of giants) first and subsequently to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib and Japan, and finally closes with an account of his experiences which he had during as well as following his last voyage to the country of the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver’s status as a stranger to the inhabitants of each country he visits remains unchanged till his voyage to the country of Houyhnhnms where he begins to feel he should belong. This study is particularly aimed at explaining why Gulliver begins to feel he is now part of the Houyhnhnms by arguing that considered as a whole, his experiences among the Houyhnhnms work progressively towards and eventually culminate in forming what can be called a particular case of estrangement, or alienation, on his part. Especially the final pages of the novel depict Gulliver in a state of quasi-delirium which can best be phrased as a case of estrangement from the human race in general, and from the English society, his family and even himself in particular. The presence of the human Gulliver among the Houyhnhnms causes his ontological relation with himself as a human being to undergo an unexpected transformation, and consequently he splits from his human self—something which can most clearly and easily be spotted in instances where the reader finds him referring to human beings, including himself, as Yahoos, even after the publication of the novel