Gulliver's Travel -- Chapter One -- Michelle

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift

Travels -- Part 1
A Voyage to Lilliput

Michelle:

The author wants to be an explorer of the sea and tried to learn as much as possible about mathematics, navigation and physics, all things that would be useful for "those who intend to travel". He became a surgeon and did so on two ships over six years. He married in the midst of being a surgeon. While at sea he was able to read much and learn from different people he met.

A violent storm, crappy food and then the ship he was on hit a rock and everyone (presumably) except the author, died. The author came ashore and fell into a most restful sleep to be awakened attached to the ground by small ropes and cables! Those responsible were small men less than six inches tall. They shot him with tiny arrows. "... they shot another flight (of arrows) into the air, as we do bombs in Europe..."

The author decided to remain still. They allowed him to move a bit so he could see a speaker "taller than the other three who attended him." The tallest of the smallest! The author choose to act submissive.

They fed him doll sized portions of meat, bread and wine. The little people created a huge (in their eyes) cart to put the author on which required 900 men to hoist him up and 1,500 horses to pull him 1/2 a mile to their 'city'.

They still didn't trust him though and had arrows ready. When they got to the city it looked like an ancient temple of about 100,000 little people. Sometimes 10,000 of them would be crawling all over him but they passed a law that no one could do that anymore with punishment of death.

The authors ropes were soon removed and he sat up. They were astonished at his size. He was still secured by a leg chain about six feet long.

KEY POINT: Tasks that may seem small to some are monumental to others.

ONE THING TO REMEMBER: The author CHOSE to submit and be calm about his situation, instead of angry and hostile. This brought him more freedom.

ONE MORE THING: Each civilization has structure, rules and laws but must be prepared to expect the unexpected. It's better to be calm when others are pointing arrows at you, no matter how small then are.

The Process

There are three stages in reading classical literature:

1. First Read: The Grammar Stage
2. Second Read: The Logic Stage
3. Third Read: The Rhetoric Stage

FIRST READ: THE GRAMMAR STAGE

1. Write the title at the top of the page
2. Read entire chapter without stopping.
3. If any specific ideas or phrases strike you, jot them down
4. Summarize the section in your own words
- What is the most important point?
- What's the ONE THING to remember?
- What else about the ONE THING should you remember?
5. After each chapter, review your summery and write down your reactions in the margin with a different colored pen
6. Do this with each chapter
7. Then read the title page, back copy, TOC. Do not read the preface unless it's written by the author or translated personally
8. Review your summaries and create your own TOC -- then give the book a short title

SECOND READ: THE LOGIC STAGE

1. This is the why and how process. Reread the book again and focus on the the 'hard sections' of the book and enhance your summaries thinking about:
- Why did the writer write it?
- Did the writer succeed?

THIRD READ: THE RHETORIC STAGE

1. Reread the book again while asking:
- What does the writer want me to do, believe and experience?

Read the critics AFTER!

Some good links:

www.pinkmonkey.com
www.sparknotes.com
www.jollyroger.com

Our first few books

We started this after Michelle found a book at the library about classical reading and how to go about it.

The Well-Educated Mind. A Guide to the Classical education you never had. Susan Wise Bauer.

We started with Don Quixote and went to Pilgrim's Progress. Neither book stood out as excellent. Since we only have so much time on this planet (with only so much time to read), we opted to move to the next book on the list "Gulliver's Travels". This is where we are starting our blog.