Fear of Death in Gulliver’s Travels

Authors

  • Chunhong Yang North China Electric Power University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18533/journal.v4i8.773

Keywords:

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.   

References

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Bloom, Allan. (1973). “An Outline of Gulliver’s Travels” in The Writings of Jonathan Swift. Ed. Robert A. Greenberg and William B. Piper. New York: W. W. Norton and Co. pp. 648-661.

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Suits, Conrad. (1986). “The Role of the Horses in ‘A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms’”. In Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels: Modern Critical Interpretations. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea. pp. 115-128.

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Williams, Kathleen. (1986). “Animal Rationis Capax” in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels: Modern Critical Interpretations. pp.48-82.

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Published

2015-08-13

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