Honors Thesis Archive
| Author | Katrin Hodson |
|---|---|
| Title | The Plight of the Englishman: The Hazards of Colonization Addressed in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels |
| Department | English |
| Advisors | Cynthia Richards, Rick Incorvati, and Timothy Wilkerson |
| Year | 2020 |
| Honors | University Honors |
| Full Text | View Thesis (393 KB) |
| Abstract | Jonathan Swift’s travel narrative, Gulliver’s Travels, addresses a middle-class Englishman sailing around the world and encountering new populations with unique features. Published in 1726, when British colonization was rampant, Swift’s story confronts the effects of colonization on previously untouched civilizations. This paper touches on two of Gulliver’s journeys, to Brobdingnag and to the land of the Houyhnhnms. Citing the works of Aimé Césaire and Homi Baba, two prominent scholars in the field of post-colonial theory, this paper examines how colonization harms the parties involved, both those who are colonizing and those who have been colonized. Countering the contemporary view that colonization would benefit any civilization that receives contact, the paper notes how it rather leaves destruction in its course. |
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