Critical Summary of "The Thing Which Was Not"

A detailed Summary of Critical Summary of "The Thing Which Was Not"

According to Robert Philmus, in Gulliver's Travels, Swifts authorial voice is rarely detectable and instead provides the reader with Gulliver to narrate. This enables Swift to show the reader Gulliver's ironic view of humans after his encounter with the Houyhnhnms'. Gulliver acts as a gullible character quickly conforming to other's beliefs.

Robert Philmus points out many problems behind Gulliver's quickly changed views towards humans and truth after his stay in Houyhnhnmland. Gulliver believes that everything should be taken literally and that things only can exist if they have a name. For example, in the Houyhnhnm society they have no word for "lie". In order for Gulliver to explain what a lie was he used the phrase "the thing which was not". Since they have no word for it, lying simply does not exist. Robert Philmus stresses that Gulliver is a weak minded character lacking a strong educational background. Philmus quotes Gulliver making truthful claims by citing a passage from the Aeneid, where he quotes Augustan Sinon's words used to deceive Trojans about a horse. Sinon's name is closely associated with deception and lies and

Philmus obviously views Gulliver as a weak minded character. Upon his return from Houyhnhnmland, Gulliver has adopted their desire to perfectly reason through everything and have complete truth. When small errors in dates are made in the accounts of Gulliver's travels he becomes disgusted with human behavior. Gulliver has been transformed and now accepts nothing but perfection from everyone. He views himself as above humans and isolates himself from them.

Philmus' article provides a good analysis of Gulliver and how susceptible he became to the Houyhnhnms. He points out numerous flaws in their reasoning which make the reader wonder how Gulliver could ever turn his back on human society to follow them.

In this article Philmus makes numerous points proving how easily molded Gulliver's mind was by the Houyhnhnms. He provides evidence to prove that Gulliver lacks a strong education and shows how he transformed before and after Houyhnhnmland. Philmus indicates that Gulliver rather then learning lessons from his travels and applying them to his life, adopts others beliefs and does not think on his own. Philmus sums up his

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Approximate Word count = 773
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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