Social Systems Encountered in Gullivers Travels - Essay Example

Social systems encountered in Gulliver's Travels Gulliver’s Travels is arguably Jonathan Swift’s best satiric attempt put to shame men who engaged in vices and make them abandon those practices. He did this by differentiating how man behaves and how he thinks about his behavior and justifies it in a variety of situations. Swift shows pride as what makes man think that he is virtuous and rational when he has not ascertained this fact. Swift explores social systems as his most salient attacks touch on religion, politics, and other elements of the society and the critique on the essence and failures of human nature. The main character in the novel, Gulliver encounters several social systems as exemplified by writings in trials of modernity. Despite the fact that it appears simple and straightforward, the novel intended for the delight of children, upon closer examination of the novel reveals an insightful work that satirizes the political and social systems of eighteenth-century England. After serving as a surgeon aboard the swallow, Gulliver returns to London. Gulliver marries and takes on patients while in London. His practice cannot allow him to sustain his family. Therefore, he decides to go to the sea so that he can sustain his family. He spent six years in two different ships. He works both as a captain and a physician. In all his travels, Gulliver encounters several aspects that indicate the importance and manifestations of several social systems that affect the behavior of people. The most notable among all this was civil society marked by political leadership and civilizations and the ways it affected the lives of people. The economic conditions of 1648 up to 1650 were marked by harsh conditions especially for most people who were poor. This period was marked b low crop production and a rise in food prices. It was a time when people were establishing agrarian communities across England so that they could grow food. Most people ho comprised of the poor population were going hungry yet there was plenty of idle land (Burton and Dworkin 14). In a declaration from the poor oppressed people of England (1649), Gerard Winstanley shows the inequalities and devastating life that people led (Burton and Dworkin 31). Winstanley captures the problems that Gulliver’s was going through at that time. The upper class was the only group of people who enjoyed life because they owned the means of production. Gulliver could not sustain his family and had to travel and combine two professions to earn more money for his family. Winstanley envisioned his wish for a different social order crediting his inspiration from a message he received in trance that says, “Work together, and eat bread together.” He campaigned for a democratic society dissimilar from the one that existed and favored privilege and wealth. He was concerned of the common man, the people at the lower ranks in society. Those who were ignored and forgotten. Winstanley engaged in fighting for the rights of the poor an oppressed by communicating to Lord Fairfax about the ill-treatment of the Digger community. The civilizations that Gulliver encounters reveal to him the flaws that exist in his society that he valued in his first voyage (Burton and Dworkin 34). The society at that time was marked by unfairness and only those who learn different tactics survived. Individualism became one of the major tactics of survival in an age that was characterized by the rise of capitalism that accounted for the tension between social hierarchies arranged in terms of status inheritance and accumulated wealth. The period was also marked by the mobility of populations that came up because of stable traditional values. Gulliver’s travels confirm this assertion because most of his journeys were made in the search of a better life. He moved from one place to another taking up different jobs and roles for his survival and that of his family. Thomas Hobbes, in his famous writing The Leviathan (1651) proposed an alternative political order that was based on social hierarchies and religious issues (Burton and Dworkin 37). As seen in Gulliver’s dealings with Lilliputians, Laputans and Yahoos, peoples lives were defined by divine will, obedience to the ruler, individual duties as opposed to rights and acceptance of fate among other issues. Therefore, Hobbes proposes his political ideology through thought experiment by according priority to individuals as opposed to the society and replacing duties with rights. His model was based on individualism and equality without social hierarchies. He gave importance to the relationship of equal individuals within the state. Hobbes just like Winstanley tried to shape the society for the poor and oppressed so that they could have better lives. He reflects this in Philosophical Letters (1664); from Grounds of Natural Philosophy (1668) (Burton and Dworkin 42). In the essays on Human Understanding (1690) and (two treatises of government) of Civil Government (1690) John Locke discusses the right of man and the roles of (political) governments in the society. He argued that the divine right owned by kings in the sixteenth century was not supported by Holy Scripture or the use of reason. Locke argued that human beings have natural right to their own natural laws and have a duty to obey the state (Burton and Dworkin 107). Like the other scholars discussed, Locke criticized the governance that existed in England under Charles II. Locke stated that property and the right of ownership of gods by individuals are the basic issues that result to conflicts. For him, people form societies to protect their own property. He supported the right of people to overthrow rulers who betray them. He stated that those who had more property needed more power to protect it; however, this oppresses the poor. Locke’ ideas confirm Gulliver’s encounters with oppressed people. This is clearly seen in his voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib, and Japan, for instance, where he discovers the negative effects of political theory in Lagado and the Yahoo who have been savaged in his Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms. These are examples of failed political governance as a social system set to protect the lives of people. Instead, it serves to promote the needs of the wealthy and those who occupy higher social classes at the expense of the poor (Burton and Dworkin 117). In A Modest Proposal (1729) by Jonathan Swift, the poor state of the society is also presented (Burton and Dworkin). Mot people were employed as laborers in agricultural farms or as tenant farmers in the lands of the upper and ruling class. Most landowners received payments for the produce from their lands. The ruling class who owned lands was Protestants mostly born in Ireland. The period was marked by abject poverty, starvation and lack of social security. Swift proposes the possibility of breeding children for food but argues against it. His argument is that early death is preferable than the misery of lifelong poverty. As he says, “…I think it is agreed by all parties that this prodigious number of children in the arms, or on the backs, or at the heels of their mothers, and frequently of their fathers, is in the present deplorable state of the kingdom a very great additional grievance…” (Burton and Dworkin 83) Swift advised people against proposing other solutions, such as taxing absentee landlords, discouraging pride and vanity among other suggestions because they would not work. Gulliver experienced the problems of poverty and lack of social security and engaged in several jobs to earn a decent living. The social system in Gulliver’s travels just like in A Modest Proposal had failed to adequately provide for its citizens. The ruling class had taken everything and devastated the poor. Land was a preserve for the ruling and high social class while the common people worked in those lands as laborers. They had no rights. They had duties to work for the ruling class and make their land profitable (Burton and Dworkin 86). In Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality among Men (1755) Jean Jacques Rousseau also addresses the problem of inequality between the wealthy and the peasants. He states that man is naturally good but was corrupted because of the historical events that led to civil society. He says that, “…he will never hurt any other man, or even any sentient being, except on those lawful occasions on which his own preservation is concerned…” (Burton and Dworkin 125) Therefore, these philosophers and scholars show the social systems as encountered by Gulliver in his journeys. The civil society that had the political power supported by the high social class it occupied favored wealthy land owners and discriminated on the poor who were the majority in society. The ruling class was powerful and dictated on the lives of the poor making sure that they remained powerless and in abject poverty. The ruling class owned the means of production and made the common people slaves to work on their farms. They oppressed them, let them starve and die of hunger and disease. Gulliver was disturbed by this scenario to the extent that he identified with the poor but could not help because of lack of power. Even with his skills, he depended on the power and mercies of the ruling class. The political system held by the ruling class, as a social system failed to protect the rights of the majority making them dutiful without rights. Work cited Burton, Stacy and Dennis Dworkin. Trials of Modernity: Europe in the World (4th ed). Boston: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2007. Read More