Gulliver's Travels

by Jonathan Swift (1729)



REACTION: ★★★★ (Loved)

All the makings of a classic children's book lined with subtle but pointed stabs at conventional society that will take on such different undertones when read again later in life. Enough insight and bite to make you question your way of being in the world and imagine other ways and possibilities that could be. I really enjoyed the play on opposites the worlds that Gulliver journeys through represented compared to the world we're used to. You have: 1) the land of tiny people where Gulliver was the giant; 2) the land of giants where he was the tiny one; 3) the floating circular island that defied gravity and our laws of physics; 4) the land where horses were the dominate species who ruled over humans and treated them as brute animals to be dealt with. Gulliver trying to explain humans and our societies to those who are not from our world and trying to not be stumped by their perfectly logical questions about why we do the illogical and arbitrary things we do, so much fun. The book mocks everything: human nature, religion, language, funeral rituals, sexism, warfare, philosophy, science, fashion, government, law, lawyers, scholars, doctors, colonization, etc. I find this very fair because it levels the playing field. There's no favoritism or agenda, since all's fair game when it comes to mocking. I remember the word "prodigious" was used a lot in this book. And some toileting details I've never encountered in any other work of literature before or since, which is oddly refreshing.


QUOTES:

"These people thought it a prodigious defect of policy among us, when I told them that our laws were enforced only by penalties, without any mention of reward."  (Gulliver, in Lilliput)

"Nothing is great or little otherwise than by comparison."  (Gulliver, in Brobdingnag)

"For he could not understand, why nature should teach us to conceal what nature had given; that neither himself nor family were ashamed of any parts of their bodies; but, however, I might do as I pleased."    (Gulliver, about nudity in Country of the Houyhnhnms)

"Poor nations are hungry, and rich nations are proud; and pride and hunger will ever be at variance. For these reasons, the trade of a soldier is held the most honourable of all others; because a soldier is a Yahoo hired to kill, in cold blood, as many of his species, who have never offended him, as possibly he can."   (Gulliver, in Country of the Houyhnhnms)

"He looked upon us as a sort of animals, to whose share, by what accident he could not conjecture, some small pittance of reason had fallen, whereof we made no other use, than by its assistance, to aggravate our natural corruptions, and to acquire new ones, which nature had not given us; that we disarmed ourselves of the few abilities she had bestowed; had been very successful in multiplying our original wants, and seemed to spend our whole lives in vain endeavours to supply them by our own inventions"  (Gulliver's Houyhnhnm master's reaction to human society)

"Reason alone is sufficient to govern a rational creature"  (Gulliver's Houyhnhnm master)

"Temperance, industry, exercise, and cleanliness, are the lessons equally enjoined to the young ones of both sexes; and my master thought it monstrous in us, to give the females a different kind of education from the males"  (Gulliver, in Country of the Houyhnhnms)

"But as those countries which I have described do not appear to have any desire of being conquered and enslaved, murdered or driven out by colonies, nor abound either in gold, silver, sugar, or tobacco, I did humbly conceive, they were by no means proper objects of our zeal, our valour, or our interest."  (Gulliver, about English colonization)

The Picture of Dorian Gray

by Oscar Wilde (1890)




REACTION: ★★★★ (Loved)

Biting and cynical yes and oh so entertaining! Not to mention insightful and thought-provoking. The concept of one living for experience itself rather than the fruit of one's experience personified in Dorian Gray because he literally can't suffer the consequences of his actions. I find it interesting in terms of power play how Lord Henry knowingly seeks to dominate Dorian as Dorian unknowingly and effortlessly dominates Basil, both men of course objectifying Dorian as they dominate or are dominated by him. Dorian also hilariously refers to Basil as a "thing" too. The dichotomy of the "plain" and "painted" women Lord Henry went on about very much reflects society's madonna vs. whore tendency of viewing and depicting women rather than delving into the complexities of who they are. I heart Lord Henry, for his quotability alone. Amuses me to no end that he dismisses someone accidentally shooting a man as having no psychological value but would totally find the same person interesting if he had done it on purpose. I also appreciate the irony that the knife used to kill the painter was also the one used to kill the painting/subject of painting.


QUOTES:

"Young men want to be faithful, and are not; old men want to be faithless, and cannot." (Lord Henry)

"Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic."

"Experience was of no ethical value. It was merely the name men gave to their mistakes."

"There was pity in her eyes that became laughter on her lips." (Sibyl)

"The moment was lost in vulgar details"

"Unselfish people are colourless. They lack individuality." (Lord Henry)

"We think that we are being generous because we credit our neighbour with the possession of those virtues that are likely to be a benefit to us." (Lord Henry)

"Society--civilised society, at least--is never very ready to believe anything to the detriment of those who are both rich and fascinating."

"I like men who have a future, and women who have a past." (Lord Henry)

"When they make up their ledger, they balance stupidity by wealth, and vice by hypocrisy." (Lord Henry)

"I believe in the race." (Duchess)
"It represents the survival of the pushing." (Lord Henry)
"It has development." (Duchess)
"Decay fascinates me more." (Lord Henry)
"What of art?" (Duchess)
"It is a malady." (Lord Henry)
"Love?" (Duchess)
"An illusion." (Lord Henry)
"Religion?" (Duchess)
"The fashionable substitute for belief." (Lord Henry)
"You are a sceptic." (Duchess)
"Never! Scepticism is the beginning of faith." (Lord Henry)
"What are you?" (Duchess)
"To define is to limit." (Lord Henry)

"To be popular one must be a mediocrity." (Lord Henry)

"Shallow sorrows and shallow loves live on. The loves and sorrows that are great are destroyed by their own plentitude."

"He had no curiosity. It was his chief defect." (Lord Henry, about Basil)

"It's absurd to talk of the ignorance of youth. The only people to whose opinions I listen now with any respect are people much younger than myself. They seem in front of me. Life has revealed to them her latest wonder." (Lord Henry)