Travels Unraveled (a little).
Ok, I should probably mention this book. I just finished reading it today for a book club I'm in, the "Utopia" book club, we're reading all kinds of fiction for different types of "perfect" societies (which turns out to be a pretty consistent subject for science fiction).
I have to admit, the 18th century language was a little hard to follow at first, but once you get past that the political satire is hilarious! Those who have not read the book are mostly familiar with the stories of the Lilliputans, the little people who tie Gullliver down, and maybe the giants, who adopt Gulliver as a source of amusement for their royalty. However there are two more civilizations after these, the floating island of Laputa where Jonathan Swift (the author) pokes fun at the lofty scholars of his day, and the island of the Houyhnhnms (don't bother trying to pronounce it) and the Yahoos. The Houyhnhnms are an advanced form of horses, capable of speech, and the dominant species of the island. The Yahoos are depicted as something like the penultimate link on the evolutionary chain, kin to humans, and the beasts of burden. When the perspective is completely flipped like this, get ready for a wicked reality shock.
When the exploited under-race is so closely related to humans, how can we help but sympathize (to a certain extent)? Swift meant this passage as a prod at all the disgusting, designing, dishonest aspects of humans by calling them Yahoos and comparing them to a simultaneously flawless society. But I also saw in it a glance at the plight of animals used for labor in those days, and today - for food. Animals confined for life and without consent to unfair treatment and abuse until the dominant beings can't get any more out of them, at which point they are disposed of. All because they don't speak for themselves, at least not in ways comprehendible to their oppressors, and are assumed to be un-feeling, or of an inferior understanding. Hello, we can all feel pain!
While I definitely appreciated Swift's intended parody, I was excited to find some food for thought of my own through the empathy he created by blatantly switching the points of view between "humans" and "animals".
Peace.
I have to admit, the 18th century language was a little hard to follow at first, but once you get past that the political satire is hilarious! Those who have not read the book are mostly familiar with the stories of the Lilliputans, the little people who tie Gullliver down, and maybe the giants, who adopt Gulliver as a source of amusement for their royalty. However there are two more civilizations after these, the floating island of Laputa where Jonathan Swift (the author) pokes fun at the lofty scholars of his day, and the island of the Houyhnhnms (don't bother trying to pronounce it) and the Yahoos. The Houyhnhnms are an advanced form of horses, capable of speech, and the dominant species of the island. The Yahoos are depicted as something like the penultimate link on the evolutionary chain, kin to humans, and the beasts of burden. When the perspective is completely flipped like this, get ready for a wicked reality shock.
When the exploited under-race is so closely related to humans, how can we help but sympathize (to a certain extent)? Swift meant this passage as a prod at all the disgusting, designing, dishonest aspects of humans by calling them Yahoos and comparing them to a simultaneously flawless society. But I also saw in it a glance at the plight of animals used for labor in those days, and today - for food. Animals confined for life and without consent to unfair treatment and abuse until the dominant beings can't get any more out of them, at which point they are disposed of. All because they don't speak for themselves, at least not in ways comprehendible to their oppressors, and are assumed to be un-feeling, or of an inferior understanding. Hello, we can all feel pain!
While I definitely appreciated Swift's intended parody, I was excited to find some food for thought of my own through the empathy he created by blatantly switching the points of view between "humans" and "animals".
Peace.
Comments
I really need to read that.
You like green I see. Sweet. I mean, green IS the best color on the face of this earth.
Later,
-Zia ^^