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1、My View on the Irony in Gullivers Travels任彬 英语二班 03100221I still remember that the first time I read the Gullivers Travels was in primary school. Although as a child I couldnt understand the deep meanings in this masterpiece at that time,I was still attracted by its exciting plot and unique imaginat
2、ion. After I went to university, I finally have the chance to read the original version of this novel through the selected readings of English literature. Besides the vivid language and numerous artistic methods, I began to explore the deeper literary value of this novel by taking the historical bac
3、kground and authors personal experience into consideration. Among all the shining points in Gullivers Travels, the use of irony impressed me a lot and brought a thought to my mind.At first, Id like to introduce the author, Jonathan Swift, briefly to you. Gullivers Travels is a novel written by Irish
4、 writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift. Its a classic of English literature. Since then, it has never been out of print. He is remembered for works such as Gullivers Travels, A Modest Proposal, and A Tale of a Tube. Swift is probably the foremost prose satirist in the English language, although is les
5、s well known for his poetry. When we evaluate a famous person, we shouldnt set him apart from the historical background that he lived in. The 18th century marked the beginning of an intellectual movement in Europe, known as the Enlightenment. English enlighteners differed in some way from those of F
6、rance. They tried to clear away the feudal ideas with the bourgeois ideology. The classicism appeared at that time. The classicists modeled themselves on Greek and Latin authors and tried to control literary creation by some fixed laws and rules drawn from Greek and Latin works. Born and grew in thi
7、s era, Swift was famous for his realistic novels.There are four parts in this novel- A Voyage to Lilliput, A Voyage to Brobdingna, A Voyage to Laputa, and A Voyage to the country of the Houyhnhnms. Each country represented a group of people in real human world. Thats how the irony was used in this n
8、ovel. Among all of these four parts, I like the Voyage to the country of the Houyhnhnms most, therefore, Id like to analysis authors use of irony through this part.Its Gullivers last adventure. He was abandoned by his crew in a landing boat and came upon a race of hideous, deformed and savage humano
9、id creatures to which he conceives a violent antipathy. They were the ruling class, while the Yahoos, though in the shape of men, were brute beasts with such vices as stealing and lying. Its not difficult for us to find that in Swifts mind those houses were “the perfection of nature”. They were hone
10、st fair and brave. Their realm was full of love and order. And Yahoos symbolized for English lords in 18th century. They were irrational, brutal, greedy, ridiculous and meaningless. When we traced back the history in the 18th century in Britain, we could find that although England had gone through i
11、ts bourgeois revolution in the 17th century, the enlighteners in literary area also wanted to bring it to an end clearing away the feudal ideas with the bourgeois ideology. For Swift himself, he never forgot the bitter experience of living under the roof of a noble family. He knew the corruption and
12、 vice in the upper classes and spared no efforts to attack on it and try to wake it up. The imagination of the country Houyhnhnms could be thought as the authors expectation to bourgeois society in the future. I think one reason that why the Gullivers Travels is so popular around the world until tod
13、ay is that it still has educational senses for all of us. For example, in the first part of this novel, the emperor in the Lilliput was just six inches tall, but he thought that he was the greatest in the universe. From this we can learn that we shouldnt restrict ourselves in a small circle, because
14、 the cognition is infinite. And the official authorities should close to ordinary people rather than think highly of themselves without destination.Once I read a book and find a paragraph of word described Swift as a master satirist. His irony is deadly. But his satire is marked by an outward gravit
15、y, and an apparent calmness conceals his bitter irony. There are also some young people in our society who like to criticize the current situations. But they are easily to lose their reason and become so exaggerate. Therefore we should learn from Swift and learn to form our own view only after carefully analyze and think. Gullivers Travels, an unparalleled satirical depiction of the vices in authors age and a great novel for all the human beings. By exploring the excellent use of irony in this masterpiece, we can get limitless wisdom about our society, life and the future road.