So Mom inspired me to pick up another classic. After Gulliver's Travels and only getting to chapter three, I am hoping Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin will hold more of my attention. If the first sentence is any indication -- I am in!
I didn't read any notes on the text at the beginning or any of the lengthy introduction by Vivien Jones or the original Penguin Classics intro by Tony Tanner because, well, I am not supposed to. I did read that Jane A. died at 37. Is that right?
The book had a reproduction of a reproduction of a reproduction of the original title page. A novel in three volumes. The date was 1813 or 1819 since the repo was hard to read. It makes a difference though. Think of the difference of 1983 to 1989 -- big difference.
The first sentence made me laugh out loud. Only because it's not true and then it is true. A single, rich man moving to the 'hood is still a hot item. He "came down on Monday in a chaise and four" and "was so delighted". More men should be delighted. I imagine him (forgot his name already) doing leprechaun kicks in front of this big manor with his starched, white cravat blowing in the breeze. Or it could have been just Mrs. Bennet's word choice but I hope not. I want him to be giddy.
Mrs. Bennet called her husband Mr. Bennet. Typical of the day? How impersonal. She wants him to visit the new rich man. Mr. Bennet compliments his wife -- nice. Then plays her. He's wry and dry. I like him already. She's annoying.
Other big wigs want a shot at this young man as well -- Sir William and Lady Lucas.
We already know the favorite daughter -- Lizzy with her "quickness". I like that word. Her sister Jane is pretty and Lydia funny but it's Lizzy who her dad (Mr. B) favors.
A great line responding to Mrs. B comment about 'her nerves'. "I have the highest respect for your nerves. They are my old friends." Yikes. Imagine that marriage.
Mr. B is smart and complicated. Mrs. B is shallow and a busybody who's sole purpose in life appears to get her daughters married.
My money is on Lizzy getting the rich dude.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
PART IV TRAVELS - A VOYAGE TO THE COUNTRY OF THE HOUYHNHNMS.
Chapter 1
After five months at home, Gulliver leaves his pregnant wife to captain a trading ship. Because some of his crew died of some disease he had to hire recruits in Barbados. They turned out to be rogues and eventually took over the ship and left Gulliver on an island. As Gulliver walks around the island, he sees hideous looking hairy creatures climbing trees and walking upright (prehistoric man, perhaps). He met one of these creatures on the road and out of fear, hit him with his hanger. The creature roared, bringing 40 of his friends. Gulliver backed up against a tree, waving his hanger to keep them away. Some climbed up the tress and defecated on his head. They fled as a horse came upon the scene. This horse examained Gulliver by walking around him several times and touching him with a hoof. A second horse joined the first for more examination. The two horses communicated with each other by neighing words that Gulliver tried to imitate such as "yahoo" and "houyhnhnms." Gulliver is led down the road by one of these horses.
Chapter 2
Gulliver enters a long building with a straw roof and clay floor. He encounters horses, some sitting on their haunches in various rooms. He expected to meet some people and had gifts ready for them-knives, jewelry, mirrors. In back of this house, he is shown a building full of the creatures he first met. They were tied by the neck to overhead beams and were eating roots and the flesh of asses and dogs. As he observed them closely, he realized they were human in all ways except for total body hairiness and color. Gulliver was offered some of their food but refused it. Eventually he was given cow's milk to drink and from oats, he made himself some bread. On occasion, he was able to catch a rabbit or bird to eat. He was given a room away from the hideous creatures the horses called yahoos.
Chapter 3
Gulliver learns the language, sounding a bit like high Dutch or German. He wrote the words in his journal, of which the Houyhnhnms had never seen. They still considered him a yahoo but more teachable, civil and clean. With the help of many horses, he learned to converse with them in about 5 months. They were most curaious about his clothing since he was the only one dressed. He told them how he had been travelling in a boat with 50 others like him. He told them others like him were everywhere. The horses had great difficulty believing any of this could be true.
Chapter 4
Gulliver refers to one of the Houyhnhnms as his "master". They talk of how horses are treated in Gulliver's country. They are fed, combed, given shelter etc. They are strong and swift - employed in travelling, racing etc. Gulliver describes the use of bridles, saddles, spurs, whips and horseshoes. The Houyhnhnms wonder why the horses don't just shake off their riders. Gulliver tells of how they are trained and castrated to tame them. They discussed Gulliver's physical features in comparison with horses. His arms were useless for walking, his face too flat, his nose too prominant, his eyes too close together, his skin too tender. They discussed Gulliver's life and country and the general vices of men. There were no words for power, government, war, law, punishment etc. in the Houyhnhnms language so it was difficult to explain human nature to a horse. Overall, the H. thought horses to be superior in all ways.
Chapter 5
Gulliver discusses everything he knows of Europe and particularly England for over two years with his "master." He has opinions about the war with France and general motives for war such as ambition, corruption and often differences of opinion. He talked of soldiers hired to kill his own species with all sorts of weapons and cruelty. They discussed the law - created to prove that white is balck and black is white. For example, if one person wants another person's cow, he hires a lawyer to prove he should have it. The owner of the cow hires a lawyer to defend his right to keep it. The lawyers never want to know what claim each has to the cow but spend years debating the color of the cow, the size of its horns, the shape of its field, where she is milked and in 10 to 30 years come to a decision. The rules of law are written in language that only lawyers can understand. Things have not changed much.
Chapter 6
Gulliver continues his discussion about life in England under Queen Anne. He describes the importance of money - who has the most, what it is used for, how it is wasted etc. He described how England produced three times more food than it needed so sent away most of it to other countries in exchange for items that were not as healthy. Therefore, most men had to beg, borrow or steal to survive in a counry full of wealth. He discussed the foolishness of drinking wine which gives temporary diversion from melancholy but in the end, makes life worse. He talked about the hundreds of diseases usually brought on by our own doing and how doctors try to make us well, usually by purging of some sort. He described how to become a "minister of state" - by corruption, betrayal, lying, bribery etc. He learned that even among the H. it was better to be a bay, dapple gray or black since the servant class came from the white, the sorrel and the iron gray.
Chapter 7
The Master H. tells him of the many faults of yahoos - walk infirmly, claws of no use, no chin hair for shelter of the weather, unable to run fast, poor reasoning etc. He noted that from his observations yahoos are greedy and eager to fight either enemy or friend to get what they want. They eat everything from roots to flesh and never know when to stop. The ruling yahoo continues in office until a new one can be found. Yahoos like to be dirty - unlike natural cleanliness in other animals.
Chapter 8
Gulliver is allowed to mingle with the yahoos with a sorrel nag as his guard. He finds them all stinky, unteachable, treacherous, cowardly and cruel but strong and hardy. They dig up roots for food, eat herbs, carrion and small rodents. They swim like frogs. Gulliver was once naked in a stream and was embraced by a female yahoo. Then he knew that he too was really a yahoo. Gulliver talks only about the good features of the H. They are noble, rational, friendly, decent, civil. They love the whole species. They preserve the race by choosing strong and handsome males. They are known for temperance, industry, exercise and cleanliness. They train their young for strength, speed and hardiness by holding running and leaping competitions. Every four years, a council of the whole nations representatives meet to help each other by sharing food or even children.
Chapter 9
Gulliver's master tells him of the council debates - should the yahoos all be exterminated and replaced with asses as servants? Possibly the yahoos on this island are more coarrupted than others in the world since Gulliver is the ony example they have seen of an intelligent, rational, clean one. Gulliver suggests castration for the younger yahoos to eventually exterminate them. Gulliver talks more about the H. All history is oral as they do not have a written language. They use herbs as medicines, they calculate the year from the sun, their buldings are made from tree trunks woven with oat straw. They have tools made from flint. They are buried when they die. They live to age 70 or 75 - no joy or grief is expressed when death happens.
Chapter 10
Gulliver had shelter, food (rabbits, birds etc.), clothing (animal/yahoo skins) - everything he needed. His health was perfect and he was happy There were no bullies, no robbers, no drunkards, no cheating shop keepers, no expensive wines, no tedious talkers, no lords, no dungeons. Life was good here. Conversations consisted of topics about friendship, order, economy, virtue and reason. Gulliver was in awe of the H. and full of love and gratitude. When he thought of his family and friends, he considered them to be nothing more than the yahoos - only a little more civil. He could not tolerate to see himself as a yahoo and started to walk and talk like the H. But this happiness ended one day when his master told him the council had met and decided it was against reason and nature to have a yahoo as part of the family. Therefore, Gulliver had to either be employed as a regular yahoo or go back from where he came. He was given two months to make a boat with the help of a sorrel nag. He spotted an island off in the distance and with a heavy heart he left the island of the honorable H.
Chapter 11
Gulliver sets out on his boat hoping to find an uninhabited island to spend the rest of his life as he couldn't imagine returning to England to live with yahoos. On a small island, natives shoot him with an arrow in the leg as he escapes from them. He is eventually picked up and by force taken aboard a Portuguese ship. The crew and captain treated him well although they thought his dress and speech very strange. His speech resembled the neighing of a horse but he was able to speak Portuguese this way and be understood. He tried to jump overboard as he could hardly tolerate the smell of these yahoos. By the time the ship arrived in Lisbon, Gulliver had consented to wearing shirts from the captain and eating their food. The captain took him to his home and gradually convinced him to treturn to his family in England. The sight of his wife and children disgusted him but he forced himself to tolerate them. Five yeas later , he still was unable to let them touch his food or hold his hand. He purchased two horses and conversed with them daily.
Chapter 12
In this last chapter! Gulliver tries to convince the reader that he told only the truth. The book is to inform, not to amuse. He wrtoe it for the public good - not for fame, profit or praise. He gave no advice for invading any of them. Lilliputians are not worth the trouble to conquer, the Brobdingnagians are too large for it to be safe, the Flying Island over an English army would be scary and the Houyhnhnms have no knowledge of war. He does however, praise the English conquerors. They have built colonies with wisdom, care and justice. Gulliver is still trying to live among his fellow yahoos. It's getting easier but for the smell of them. He must stuff his nostrils with rue, lavender or tobacco leaves in order to tolerate even his own family. Is he carzy or am I for reading this ridculous travel book.
After five months at home, Gulliver leaves his pregnant wife to captain a trading ship. Because some of his crew died of some disease he had to hire recruits in Barbados. They turned out to be rogues and eventually took over the ship and left Gulliver on an island. As Gulliver walks around the island, he sees hideous looking hairy creatures climbing trees and walking upright (prehistoric man, perhaps). He met one of these creatures on the road and out of fear, hit him with his hanger. The creature roared, bringing 40 of his friends. Gulliver backed up against a tree, waving his hanger to keep them away. Some climbed up the tress and defecated on his head. They fled as a horse came upon the scene. This horse examained Gulliver by walking around him several times and touching him with a hoof. A second horse joined the first for more examination. The two horses communicated with each other by neighing words that Gulliver tried to imitate such as "yahoo" and "houyhnhnms." Gulliver is led down the road by one of these horses.
Chapter 2
Gulliver enters a long building with a straw roof and clay floor. He encounters horses, some sitting on their haunches in various rooms. He expected to meet some people and had gifts ready for them-knives, jewelry, mirrors. In back of this house, he is shown a building full of the creatures he first met. They were tied by the neck to overhead beams and were eating roots and the flesh of asses and dogs. As he observed them closely, he realized they were human in all ways except for total body hairiness and color. Gulliver was offered some of their food but refused it. Eventually he was given cow's milk to drink and from oats, he made himself some bread. On occasion, he was able to catch a rabbit or bird to eat. He was given a room away from the hideous creatures the horses called yahoos.
Chapter 3
Gulliver learns the language, sounding a bit like high Dutch or German. He wrote the words in his journal, of which the Houyhnhnms had never seen. They still considered him a yahoo but more teachable, civil and clean. With the help of many horses, he learned to converse with them in about 5 months. They were most curaious about his clothing since he was the only one dressed. He told them how he had been travelling in a boat with 50 others like him. He told them others like him were everywhere. The horses had great difficulty believing any of this could be true.
Chapter 4
Gulliver refers to one of the Houyhnhnms as his "master". They talk of how horses are treated in Gulliver's country. They are fed, combed, given shelter etc. They are strong and swift - employed in travelling, racing etc. Gulliver describes the use of bridles, saddles, spurs, whips and horseshoes. The Houyhnhnms wonder why the horses don't just shake off their riders. Gulliver tells of how they are trained and castrated to tame them. They discussed Gulliver's physical features in comparison with horses. His arms were useless for walking, his face too flat, his nose too prominant, his eyes too close together, his skin too tender. They discussed Gulliver's life and country and the general vices of men. There were no words for power, government, war, law, punishment etc. in the Houyhnhnms language so it was difficult to explain human nature to a horse. Overall, the H. thought horses to be superior in all ways.
Chapter 5
Gulliver discusses everything he knows of Europe and particularly England for over two years with his "master." He has opinions about the war with France and general motives for war such as ambition, corruption and often differences of opinion. He talked of soldiers hired to kill his own species with all sorts of weapons and cruelty. They discussed the law - created to prove that white is balck and black is white. For example, if one person wants another person's cow, he hires a lawyer to prove he should have it. The owner of the cow hires a lawyer to defend his right to keep it. The lawyers never want to know what claim each has to the cow but spend years debating the color of the cow, the size of its horns, the shape of its field, where she is milked and in 10 to 30 years come to a decision. The rules of law are written in language that only lawyers can understand. Things have not changed much.
Chapter 6
Gulliver continues his discussion about life in England under Queen Anne. He describes the importance of money - who has the most, what it is used for, how it is wasted etc. He described how England produced three times more food than it needed so sent away most of it to other countries in exchange for items that were not as healthy. Therefore, most men had to beg, borrow or steal to survive in a counry full of wealth. He discussed the foolishness of drinking wine which gives temporary diversion from melancholy but in the end, makes life worse. He talked about the hundreds of diseases usually brought on by our own doing and how doctors try to make us well, usually by purging of some sort. He described how to become a "minister of state" - by corruption, betrayal, lying, bribery etc. He learned that even among the H. it was better to be a bay, dapple gray or black since the servant class came from the white, the sorrel and the iron gray.
Chapter 7
The Master H. tells him of the many faults of yahoos - walk infirmly, claws of no use, no chin hair for shelter of the weather, unable to run fast, poor reasoning etc. He noted that from his observations yahoos are greedy and eager to fight either enemy or friend to get what they want. They eat everything from roots to flesh and never know when to stop. The ruling yahoo continues in office until a new one can be found. Yahoos like to be dirty - unlike natural cleanliness in other animals.
Chapter 8
Gulliver is allowed to mingle with the yahoos with a sorrel nag as his guard. He finds them all stinky, unteachable, treacherous, cowardly and cruel but strong and hardy. They dig up roots for food, eat herbs, carrion and small rodents. They swim like frogs. Gulliver was once naked in a stream and was embraced by a female yahoo. Then he knew that he too was really a yahoo. Gulliver talks only about the good features of the H. They are noble, rational, friendly, decent, civil. They love the whole species. They preserve the race by choosing strong and handsome males. They are known for temperance, industry, exercise and cleanliness. They train their young for strength, speed and hardiness by holding running and leaping competitions. Every four years, a council of the whole nations representatives meet to help each other by sharing food or even children.
Chapter 9
Gulliver's master tells him of the council debates - should the yahoos all be exterminated and replaced with asses as servants? Possibly the yahoos on this island are more coarrupted than others in the world since Gulliver is the ony example they have seen of an intelligent, rational, clean one. Gulliver suggests castration for the younger yahoos to eventually exterminate them. Gulliver talks more about the H. All history is oral as they do not have a written language. They use herbs as medicines, they calculate the year from the sun, their buldings are made from tree trunks woven with oat straw. They have tools made from flint. They are buried when they die. They live to age 70 or 75 - no joy or grief is expressed when death happens.
Chapter 10
Gulliver had shelter, food (rabbits, birds etc.), clothing (animal/yahoo skins) - everything he needed. His health was perfect and he was happy There were no bullies, no robbers, no drunkards, no cheating shop keepers, no expensive wines, no tedious talkers, no lords, no dungeons. Life was good here. Conversations consisted of topics about friendship, order, economy, virtue and reason. Gulliver was in awe of the H. and full of love and gratitude. When he thought of his family and friends, he considered them to be nothing more than the yahoos - only a little more civil. He could not tolerate to see himself as a yahoo and started to walk and talk like the H. But this happiness ended one day when his master told him the council had met and decided it was against reason and nature to have a yahoo as part of the family. Therefore, Gulliver had to either be employed as a regular yahoo or go back from where he came. He was given two months to make a boat with the help of a sorrel nag. He spotted an island off in the distance and with a heavy heart he left the island of the honorable H.
Chapter 11
Gulliver sets out on his boat hoping to find an uninhabited island to spend the rest of his life as he couldn't imagine returning to England to live with yahoos. On a small island, natives shoot him with an arrow in the leg as he escapes from them. He is eventually picked up and by force taken aboard a Portuguese ship. The crew and captain treated him well although they thought his dress and speech very strange. His speech resembled the neighing of a horse but he was able to speak Portuguese this way and be understood. He tried to jump overboard as he could hardly tolerate the smell of these yahoos. By the time the ship arrived in Lisbon, Gulliver had consented to wearing shirts from the captain and eating their food. The captain took him to his home and gradually convinced him to treturn to his family in England. The sight of his wife and children disgusted him but he forced himself to tolerate them. Five yeas later , he still was unable to let them touch his food or hold his hand. He purchased two horses and conversed with them daily.
Chapter 12
In this last chapter! Gulliver tries to convince the reader that he told only the truth. The book is to inform, not to amuse. He wrtoe it for the public good - not for fame, profit or praise. He gave no advice for invading any of them. Lilliputians are not worth the trouble to conquer, the Brobdingnagians are too large for it to be safe, the Flying Island over an English army would be scary and the Houyhnhnms have no knowledge of war. He does however, praise the English conquerors. They have built colonies with wisdom, care and justice. Gulliver is still trying to live among his fellow yahoos. It's getting easier but for the smell of them. He must stuff his nostrils with rue, lavender or tobacco leaves in order to tolerate even his own family. Is he carzy or am I for reading this ridculous travel book.
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