Fear of Death in Gulliver’s Travels
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18533/journal.v4i8.773Keywords:
Fear of death, fear of loss, Struldbruggs, Houyhnhnms.Abstract
Critics pay little attention to fear of death in Gulliver’s Travels. This paper aims to deal with the issue with Freud’s theory. According to Freud, fear of death results in death drive. In Gulliver’s Travels, the episodes of the Struldbruggs and the Houyhnhnms reveal fear of death. In the episode of Struldbruggs, fear of death is illustrated through fear of abandonment and fear of loss. Fear of abandonment and fear of loss cause the Struldbruggs to long for physical death to end emotional death. In the episode of Houyhnhnms, fear of death is represented by fear of intimacy. Fear of intimacy is expressed in Houyhnhnms’ cold attitudes to their friends and their family members.
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