The Last Stage of Gulliver’s Travels: The Role of Animal Figures in the Protagonist’s Identity Crisis

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 MA student in English Literature, Department of Linguistics and Foreign Languages, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

2 Associate Professor of English literature, Department of Linguistics and Foreign Languages, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

10.22080/jlab.2026.31147.1007

Abstract

In the context of 18th century booming English nationalism and colonial power, Swift’s satire unravels the dark side of anthropocentrism that heavily relies on rationalism and utilitarian ideology. In fact, Swift uses the Juvenalian style of satire that expresses indignation at the wrongs of society-- to frown at the follies and the moral degeneracy of man in a cross-species rather than a cross-racial view in Gulliver’s last voyage to Houyhnhnms’ land. Swift adopts “zoomorphic” tropes to expose the reductive definitions of human-ness in his age inspired by such ideas as the Ladder of Species. Swifts uses irony throughout the novel to undermine the role of reason (logos) and language as concepts much adored and relied upon by his contemporaries to tell humans and non-humans apart. In this paper, the last stage of Gulliver’s Travels is examined to figure out how Swift undermines Enlightenment notions of reason, language, human superiority and master-slave binaries, and how this destabilization leads to Gulliver’s identity crisis. According to the findings of this research, it is the protagonist's inability to adopt a more porous and inclusive worldview which leads to his identity crisis. Although Gulliver notices the shortcomings of his society through comparing it with the world of speaking animals, he still seeks Enlightenment ideals and fails to think beyond the ideology he has internalised.

Keywords

References

Bachmann-Medick, Doris. “Alterity – A Category of Practice and Analysis: Preliminary Remarks”. On_Culture: The Open Journal for the Study of Culture, vol. 4, no. 4, 2017, https://www.on-culture.org/journal/issue-4/bachmann-medick-alterity/, http://dx.doi.org/10.22029/jlupub-7066, Accessed 12 Jan 2025.
Booth, Wayne. C. The Rhetoric of Fiction. Phoenix Books, The University of Chicago Press, 1961, pp. 150-156, 316-321.
Gong, Xuan. “Dual Focalization in Johnathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels”. Journal of Narrative Theory, vol. 51, no. 1, Winter 2021, pp. 1-25, Project Muse,
       https://doi.org/10.1353/jnt.2021.0000, https://muse.jhu.edu/article/792229
Hall, Edward. Hall’s Chronicle. 1547, pp. 1-2, Archive, https://archive.org/details/hallschronicleco00halluoft
Hall, Stuart. “The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power”. Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity and Diaspora, edited by David Morley, Duke University Press, 1992, pp. 310.
Kelly, Ann Cline. “Gulliver as Pet and Pet Keeper: Talking Animals in Book 4”. English Literary History, John Hopkins University Press, vol. 74, no. 2, 2007, pp. 323-349, Jstor, Libgen, https://www.jstor.org/stable/30029559
Marshal, Ashley. “Gulliver, Gulliveriana, and the Problem of Swiftian Satire”. Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 84, no. 2, Spring 2005, pp. 211-239, https://www.academia.edu/download/7105628/Swift%20PQ%2084%202005.pdf, (25) " Gulliver", Gulliveriana, and the Problem of Swiftian Satire
Nichols, Mary P. “Rationality and Community: Swift’s Criticism of the Houyhnhnms”. The Journal of Politics, the University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Southern Political Science Association, vol. 43, no. 4. 1981, pp. 1153-1169, Sothern Political Science Association, Jstor, https://www.jstor.org/stable/2130193
Sherburn, George. “Errors Concerning the Houyhnhnms,”. Modern Philology, vol. 56, November 1958, pp. 92-97.
Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver’s Travels. 1726, pp. 277-382, Planet EBook,
       https://www.planetebook.com/free-ebooks/gullivers-travels.pdf,Gulliver’s Travels — Download Free at Planet eBook
The Book of Genesis, Chapter 1, Verse 1:27, Vatican, The Book of Genesis, https://www.vatican.va/archive/bible/genesis/documents/bible_genesis_en.html
Wübbelt, Carolin. “Unreliable Narration in Gulliver’s Travels: Examining an Unpredictable Narrator”. Johnathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels, Ruhr-University Bochum, Winter Semester 2014/2015,
https://www.academia.edu/download/53777322/unreliable_narration_in_gullivers_travels_Carolin_Wuebbelt.pdf, (25) Unreliable Narration in Gulliver’s Travels
Journal of Literature Across Borders
Volume 1, Issue 2 - Serial Number 2
Summer/Fall
September 2026
Pages 1-18

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics