Mrs. Shelton
AP Lit
1/10/12
Prompt 2 England: The average man is very patriotic towards their country. They believe their country is the best, not even taking into consideration that they do some things wrong. They go to war for no reason; half the men in the country don’t even know why they’re at war. According to Swift I must say. Going to war over what side you should break an egg is absurd. This is how Swift demonstrates England’s outlook on war. For a country to be successful, it can’t be equal. If everybody has the same amount of money, food, water, land, etc. you have no wealthy people because nobody is suffering. This of course is deficient. There shalt be no violence, not even the thought of it. I’m not sure what country is symbolized by the giants, but they’re doing it wrong. According to Swift I must add. Scientists are taking the study of science to a practical matter it seems. They take it to another level and become mad with power, greed, and lose sight in what is real in life. They become unattached with the real world because they are so engaged in their work. It seems as if Swift is trying to say science has never done mankind any good. Then again, human’s intellectual minds are behind all of it so it must be corrupt. At last, Swift resembles himself in Gulliver’s own traits by admitting he no longer wanted to be human. Without suggesting a theory of what would be a successful government, society, world, he criticizes everything including mankind itself. In my opinion, it seems Swift believes no system is the best system. The horses (yahoos) are correct on every view they have towards the world and are far wiser than humans. Swift is a very intelligent man. However, his character flaw is he is full of hatred, and much like England itself, is stubborn in the fact that his thoughts are the only correct thoughts and won’t even begin to hear of any others.
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