Essay on the Importance of Perspective in Gullivers Travels

The Importance of Perspective Revealed in Gulliver's Travels       According to Gulliver, "Undoubtably philosophers are right when they tell us that nothing is great or small than by comparison." This quotation sums the knowledge a person would gather after making a vast study of different societies. The nature of humanity is being discussed, rather than physical size.    The Lilliputians are narrow-minded people who become angry over trivial matters, while the Brobdingnagians are a deeper people, in contrast. From an outsider's view, one nation would not be so great if another were not so poor. Actions which seem natural today may appear barbaric to the generations of the future just as the actions of the past generations abhor the students of today. Only by comparison to something better does a system of power or a way of life seem small or evil. This is the purpose of satire. When studying history, students may find the customs of the past primitive. However, the people of that time most likely did not believe that they were. Perspective is vital in any comparison. A person from a highly technological society cannot easily understand the lifestyle of a civilization n... ...person who sees it. When an aspect of life is held to something better, the frailties can be seen, and a change for the better may result.    Works Cited Davis, Herbert. Gulliver's Travels. Great Britain: Oxford. (1965). Gulliver's Travels. Ed. Paul Turner. World's Classics. Oxford: Oxford University, 1998. Greenacre, Phyllis. M.D. Swift and Carroll. New York: Int. Universities. (1977). The Writings of Jonathan Swift; Authoritative Texts, Backgrounds, Criticism. edited by Robert A. Greenberg and William Bowman Piper. Norton Critical Editions. New York: Norton, 1973.