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Definition of Imagery
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines from Robert Frost's poem "After Apple-Picking" contain imagery that engages... read full definition
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines from Robert Frost's poem "After... read full definition
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines... read full definition
Book 2, Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Disgust:
At several points throughout Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift makes use of visual, tactile, and olfactory imagery to emphasize the grotesqueness of the human body and advance the novel's theme of relative perspective.
In Book 2, Chapter 1, Gulliver is disgusted to witness the Brobdingnagian farmer's wife nurse her infant and describes her skin as being covered with freckles, pimples, and other imperfections. He acknowledges that the woman's skin is only disgusting to him because it is so much enlarged compared to his own, an observation that leads Gulliver to reevaluate his perspective on beauty:
This made me reflect upon the fair Skins of our English Ladies, who appear so beautiful to us, only because they are of our own size, and their Defects not to be seen but through a Magnifying Glass, where we find by Experiment that the smoothest and whitest Skins look rough and coarse, and ill-coloured.
Gulliver further recalls that the tiny Lilliputians, who appeared to him to have exceptionally fine complexions, found his own skin repulsive:
He said he could discover great Holes in my Skin, that the Stumps of my Beard were ten times stronger than the Bristles of a Boar, and my Complexion made up of several Colours altogether disagreeable.
Due to his size, Gulliver cannot perceive visual imperfections on the skin of the Lilliputians, but his own flaws are startlingly obvious to them. Swift's use of vivid visual and tactile imagery in these passages is meant to inspire disgust in the reader and make them aware of their own flaws, which they may never have considered. In these passages, Swift also seems to be arguing that the European beauty standard, which values fair and smooth complexions, is entirely arbitrary, since the human body is inherently flawed.
Swift also uses olfactory imagery to support this argument. In Book 2, Chapter 5, Gulliver complains about the women of the Brobdingnagian court and their offensive body odor:
I was much disgusted; because, to say the Truth, a very offensive Smell came from their Skins.
Once again, Gulliver acknowledges that his disgust is due to his size, which makes him sensitive to scents that the massive Brobdingnagians would not notice, and he recalls that the Lilliputians complained about his smell. He also concedes that the women's natural body odor is more tolerable than their perfume, which he finds even more overpowering. In this passage, Swift appears to poke fun at European methods of hygiene, which fruitlessly attempt to mask the body's natural scent with artificial perfumes.
Swift again uses olfactory imagery in Book 4, Chapter 8, when Gulliver attempts to capture a Yahoo child:
I observed the young Animal's Flesh to smell very rank, and the stink was somewhere between a Weasel and a Fox, but much more disagreeable.
The descriptions of odor in this passage emphasize Gulliver's changing perspective toward his own species. The Yahoos are humans, but Gulliver refers to them as animals and compares their scent to that of a wild creature. In reality, the child probably smells like an unwashed human being, but since Gulliver does not view him as a person, he instead perceives his odor as animalistic.
Related Themes:
Book 2, Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Disgust:
At several points throughout Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift makes use of visual, tactile, and olfactory imagery to emphasize the grotesqueness of the human body and advance the novel's theme of relative perspective.
In Book 2, Chapter 1, Gulliver is disgusted to witness the Brobdingnagian farmer's wife nurse her infant and describes her skin as being covered with freckles, pimples, and other imperfections. He acknowledges that the woman's skin is only disgusting to him because it is so much enlarged compared to his own, an observation that leads Gulliver to reevaluate his perspective on beauty:
This made me reflect upon the fair Skins of our English Ladies, who appear so beautiful to us, only because they are of our own size, and their Defects not to be seen but through a Magnifying Glass, where we find by Experiment that the smoothest and whitest Skins look rough and coarse, and ill-coloured.
Gulliver further recalls that the tiny Lilliputians, who appeared to him to have exceptionally fine complexions, found his own skin repulsive:
He said he could discover great Holes in my Skin, that the Stumps of my Beard were ten times stronger than the Bristles of a Boar, and my Complexion made up of several Colours altogether disagreeable.
Due to his size, Gulliver cannot perceive visual imperfections on the skin of the Lilliputians, but his own flaws are startlingly obvious to them. Swift's use of vivid visual and tactile imagery in these passages is meant to inspire disgust in the reader and make them aware of their own flaws, which they may never have considered. In these passages, Swift also seems to be arguing that the European beauty standard, which values fair and smooth complexions, is entirely arbitrary, since the human body is inherently flawed.
Swift also uses olfactory imagery to support this argument. In Book 2, Chapter 5, Gulliver complains about the women of the Brobdingnagian court and their offensive body odor:
I was much disgusted; because, to say the Truth, a very offensive Smell came from their Skins.
Once again, Gulliver acknowledges that his disgust is due to his size, which makes him sensitive to scents that the massive Brobdingnagians would not notice, and he recalls that the Lilliputians complained about his smell. He also concedes that the women's natural body odor is more tolerable than their perfume, which he finds even more overpowering. In this passage, Swift appears to poke fun at European methods of hygiene, which fruitlessly attempt to mask the body's natural scent with artificial perfumes.
Swift again uses olfactory imagery in Book 4, Chapter 8, when Gulliver attempts to capture a Yahoo child:
I observed the young Animal's Flesh to smell very rank, and the stink was somewhere between a Weasel and a Fox, but much more disagreeable.
The descriptions of odor in this passage emphasize Gulliver's changing perspective toward his own species. The Yahoos are humans, but Gulliver refers to them as animals and compares their scent to that of a wild creature. In reality, the child probably smells like an unwashed human being, but since Gulliver does not view him as a person, he instead perceives his odor as animalistic.
Related Themes:
Book 4, Chapter 8
Explanation and Analysis—Disgust:
At several points throughout Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift makes use of visual, tactile, and olfactory imagery to emphasize the grotesqueness of the human body and advance the novel's theme of relative perspective.
In Book 2, Chapter 1, Gulliver is disgusted to witness the Brobdingnagian farmer's wife nurse her infant and describes her skin as being covered with freckles, pimples, and other imperfections. He acknowledges that the woman's skin is only disgusting to him because it is so much enlarged compared to his own, an observation that leads Gulliver to reevaluate his perspective on beauty:
This made me reflect upon the fair Skins of our English Ladies, who appear so beautiful to us, only because they are of our own size, and their Defects not to be seen but through a Magnifying Glass, where we find by Experiment that the smoothest and whitest Skins look rough and coarse, and ill-coloured.
Gulliver further recalls that the tiny Lilliputians, who appeared to him to have exceptionally fine complexions, found his own skin repulsive:
He said he could discover great Holes in my Skin, that the Stumps of my Beard were ten times stronger than the Bristles of a Boar, and my Complexion made up of several Colours altogether disagreeable.
Due to his size, Gulliver cannot perceive visual imperfections on the skin of the Lilliputians, but his own flaws are startlingly obvious to them. Swift's use of vivid visual and tactile imagery in these passages is meant to inspire disgust in the reader and make them aware of their own flaws, which they may never have considered. In these passages, Swift also seems to be arguing that the European beauty standard, which values fair and smooth complexions, is entirely arbitrary, since the human body is inherently flawed.
Swift also uses olfactory imagery to support this argument. In Book 2, Chapter 5, Gulliver complains about the women of the Brobdingnagian court and their offensive body odor:
I was much disgusted; because, to say the Truth, a very offensive Smell came from their Skins.
Once again, Gulliver acknowledges that his disgust is due to his size, which makes him sensitive to scents that the massive Brobdingnagians would not notice, and he recalls that the Lilliputians complained about his smell. He also concedes that the women's natural body odor is more tolerable than their perfume, which he finds even more overpowering. In this passage, Swift appears to poke fun at European methods of hygiene, which fruitlessly attempt to mask the body's natural scent with artificial perfumes.
Swift again uses olfactory imagery in Book 4, Chapter 8, when Gulliver attempts to capture a Yahoo child:
I observed the young Animal's Flesh to smell very rank, and the stink was somewhere between a Weasel and a Fox, but much more disagreeable.
The descriptions of odor in this passage emphasize Gulliver's changing perspective toward his own species. The Yahoos are humans, but Gulliver refers to them as animals and compares their scent to that of a wild creature. In reality, the child probably smells like an unwashed human being, but since Gulliver does not view him as a person, he instead perceives his odor as animalistic.
Related Themes:
