Gulliver's Search for an Identity

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Gulliver's Travels is a novel that touches on many subjects. One of the lesser points discussed is how Gulliver seems to be searching for acceptance and for his identity on his many journeys. Upon entering any of these strange foreign lands, Gulliver makes it a point to learn the language. This is because knowing the language of a foreign land is a crucial part to your acceptance in that country. Another thing that Gulliver adapts in each of these foreign places is their manner of dress. Great pains are taken in each country to dress Gulliver in the kingdoms latest fashions. While on his journeys, Gulliver tried his part in many roles to find one that fit him and would grant him acceptance with the peoples of each land. I will discuss Gulliver's role in each society and if he is ever truly accepted by any of the peoples he meets.

The first stop on Gulliver's many journeys was the island of Lilliput. This is a civilization filled with people only a fraction of the size of human beings. Gulliver is a "man-mountain" compared to the tiny Lilliputians. It is here that Gulliver discovers what it is like to have immense power. He is ordered to "be our ally against our enemies"(34) and "at his times of leisure, be aiding and assisting our workmen"(34). Even though they are smaller then he they try to control him. The emperor even comments that "he hoped I should prove a useful servant"(35), which shows what the people truly saw him for. Gulliver lives up to the emperors' expectations in the battle against Blefuscu. "I took up the knotted ends of the cables...and with great ease drew fifty of the enemies men-of-war after me"(43). This act of heroic servitude gained hi...

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...any of the houyhnhnms ideals that he realizes he won't be able to accept or be accepted by the people of his native land. Having learned the things he has, the world of the Yahoos is contemptible and disgusting to him. This is very evident when Gulliver finally returns to his family. "The sight of them filled me only with hatred, disgust, and contempt"(304). Gulliver does not want the identity of Yahoo and can't stand to even be associated with them. Gulliver's quest for acceptance leaves him even more isolated then ever. He was neither accepted by those in his home land nor those in any of the lands he had visited. In the end he is an outcast that passes his days talking to horses, trying to relive his happier days of partial acceptance among the houyhnhnms.

Works Cited

1. Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver's Travels. New York: Penguin Putnam, 1999.

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