’s Travels: The Soldier Within Essay, Research Paper
The
characters in Gullivers Travels and Robinson Crusoe are portrayed as resembling
trained soldiers, being capable of clear thought during tense and troubled
times. This quality possessed within Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver is a result
of the author’s background and knowledge. Daniel Defoe was knowledgeable and
proficient in seamanship, he understood the workings of a ship and the skills
required for its operation. Daniel Defoe, an intelligent man who is
knowledgeable in self defense and military tactics, which is reflected in the
actions of Robinson Crusoe who insists on always one step ahead of his
opponent, wether it be an enemy, nature or himself. Robinson Crusoe is the know
all, does all type of person. He becomes stranded on a desolate island and does
whatever is necessary to survive. After being on the island for several years
Crusoe learns to adapt to his surroundings (an important feature in becoming a
good soldier) and lives with what he has.In the
17th century, the Catholic reform was sweeping through many parts of Europe.
The period from 1600 to about 1750 is known as the Baroque Era. Throughout this
period the Catholic Church was fighting back against the effects of the
Renaissance. The people of the Renaissance society started to question their
beliefs in the church and tried to rationally explain the world around them.
Several crusades were fought throughout this period and in the end England and
France became "Christianized." Robinson Crusoe was published during
the Baroque Era and it contained a great amount of Catholicism. Crusoe becomes
a good Christian during his lonely stay on the deserted island and converts his
companion Friday when he arrives on the island from cannibalism to
Christianity. Crusoe has been placed on this barren island as a punishment for
his sins (disobeying his father) and for leaving his middle station of life.
Being lonely, home stricken and afraid has allowed Robinson Crusoe to fill his
desire for company by allowing God into his life through his nightly readings
of the Bible. Defoe is a
strong believer in God. He believes that God’s providence shapes the lives of
all men and that any unusual circumstances or misfortunes that occur happen
because that is the way God wanted it. The psychological condition of Robinson
Crusoe was not totally imagined by Daniel Defoe. Defoe was not a stranger to
the life of solitude. In the early 18th century, Defoe was imprisoned for about
six months. He was thrown in jail because of a controversial pamphlet that he
wrote called The shortest Was With Dissenters. In this pamphlet Defoe
humorously implied that all people who were not members of the Church of
England should be killed. This imprisonment may have given Defoe several
inklings of what it is like to be totally cut off from civilization. Robinson
Crusoe survives on his island and adapts very well to his surroundings, but his
companionship with God is not enough. In desperation he trains a parrot to
speak to him just to hear another voice, even though the irony is that, the
voice is just a repetition of his own.Years
later he discovers a footprint on the beach and totally flips his lid. He
becomes terribly paranoid and very careful. Crusoe covers any tracks that would
give the owner of the foot print an idea that he lives on the island. Crusoe
becomes totally enraged with the thought of another human on the island that he
prepares his house for war by surrounding it by an impenetrable fence, arming
all his weapons and is ready to kill anyone that comes near his sacred home,
grain, and animals. His condition is now evident: the strengths of his
character that has made him flourish in isolation has now distorted all his
social instincts and civilized manners. He only feels comfortable with himself,
his animals, and the Lord in which he can trust. Crusoe lives in fear of the
footprint for the next couple of years. Crusoe has become confused, at first he
dreams for someone to come and save him, then he feels that someone may destroy
him. He has been isolated form civilization for more than 15 years and it has
driven him to the point of uncertainty, paranoia and slight lunacy. During the
stay on the island, Robinson Crusoe became an architect, a carpenter, a baker,
a tailor, a farmer, an umbrella maker, a preacher and even a man. But most
important he learnt to respect fate.Swift, a
wise and educated man, cleverly gains the readers respect during the
progression of the novel. The first thought the reader has is that Swift does
not even take Gulliver very seriously. For instance, his name sounds much like
gullible, which suggests that he will believe in anything. Gulliver, an
ordinary, good man, not rich and the son of a small country holder poses the
drive for adventure and the quality of a mentally sound individual. In
Lilliput, he shows himself to be good-natured and gentle with the tiny people.
Gulliver assists in the war against Blefuscu by not injuring his
"enemies." But deprives them of their weapons which inflict damage. By
doing so he immediately shows his noble generosity and respect for the liberty
of others by refusing to enslave the Blefuscudians. Being treated poorly by the
Lilliputians, Gulliver has two choices, 1. To flee 2. To kill his enemy. To his
credit, he does not seriously consider killing his enemy, but rather flees.
Gulliver has won the confidence of the reader as being trustworthy, a man of
integrity, uprightness, sound judgement, and humanity. The shift
in surroundings allows Gulliver’s mental state to change form one extreme
another which begins in Brodingnagian where he is subjected to constant
humiliations in the land of the giants and develops defenses for his
self-esteem. He boasts what he would have done to the monkeys if he had thought
of using his sword; he brags to the court ladies about the seamanship he
possesses. But it is the sharp-witted, keen eyed Brodingnagian king who puts
Gulliver on the defensive and the effects on Gulliver are worth noticing. He
becomes uncomfortable and begins to shuffle and lie his way out of intense
situations allowing one to see him as being much less then we had taken him to
be. This change in Gulliver has destroyed and distorted one’s trust in his
judgement and honesty. One must then henceforth weigh his accomplishments very
carefully. Gulliver is a changing dynamic character. In the second chapter came
his recognition that the Yahoo is the "perfect human figure," but by
the fifth chapter, Gulliver struggles with the fact of seeing himself as a
Yahoo, which depicts the foul, ugly, obscene and stupid part of man. As
Gulliver returns to the land of men, it clearly emerges that he is seriously
unhinged and a thoroughly changed character. He suffers from what the Greeks
called hybris, and arrogant pride characterized by a man stepping out of his
proper place in the world. Traditionally a hybris is quickly followed by death
or other serious punishment. Instead of the good-natured Gulliver, there is one
whose ill-nature flourishes. Instead of the patriotic Englishman, there is one
who detests the thought of England. The events Gulliver experienced changed his
views. He posses the ability to see the poor humanities of man kind. Man kind
is not superior, we have many great faults which are summed up in a single
quote.? I am not the least provoked and the sight of
a lawyer, a pickpocket, a colonel, a fool, a lord, a gambler, a politician,a
whoremonger, a physician, an evidence, a suborner, an attorney, a traitor, or
the like: this is all according to the due course of things: but when I behold
a lump of deformity and diseases, both in body and mind, smitten with pride, it
im-mediatly breaks all the measures of my patience; neither shall I be ever
able to comprehend how such an animal and such a vice could tally together.(Jonathan
Swift, Gulliver’s Travels)Both
Gulliver and Robinson are changing characters. At first they could not see the
hidden details of life. But through solitude, trauma, conquest and failure have
allowed both characters to realize the achievements, failures, and stupidity of
man kind. Being able to rationalize from experience and calculation is a
quality of a soldier.?
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