Brobdingnag

by Matt Thurman

In the minds of many, technology is a useless enhancement that is ruinous to many lives.  These are the ones who are keen on practicality and force alone, thus find no need for unreasonable and additional concepts aside from everyday issues.  In the novel Gulliver’s Travel by Jonathan Swift, a character by the name of Lemuel Gulliver visited many different islands in which don’t really exist.  One of these places was called Brobdingnag, a land where people are oversized and are entirely anchored in minimalism.  As the Brobdingnags have formerly discovered, life can be undergone with just necessary ideas and objects and that technology is merely a distraction that gets humanity nowhere.

The cavemen were ancient people who lived very uncivilized and practical lives.  In essence, they are very much like the Brobdingnags, for they both had no intention of using materials other than what were crucial.  This is exactly what Jonathan Swift is endeavoring to explain to the reader and is presenting that they can still succeed in life with what they truly are obligated to attain.  Very sophisticated were the Europeans at the time when Swift published his book, which leads anyone to believe that the European society at that time was much more refined than that of Brobdingnag.  However, this bizarre culture was not only looked down on by everyone, for many considered Brobdingnag to be a beneficial civilization, for it seemed to be much simpler than any of Europe’s, and still appeared to work out.

Although the land of Brobdingnag appeared to satirize a land of simple yet successful people, Swift also intended for the reader to understand the fact that they symbolize humanity’s flaws.  Being such colossal creatures, their ugliness was easily detected by Gulliver who was able to see dirt in the cracks of their skin.  These giants deceived Gulliver tremendously, for when he first arrived at Brobdingnag he thought of them as magnificent and prodigious.  However, once he became acquainted with the inhabitants, he realized their simplicity, and later discovered their true repulsiveness.  Humans don’t see each other in such a magnified range as Gulliver was to the Brobdingnags, which would be a reason as to why we don’t notice these hideous sights that were seen by Lemuel.  What Jonathan Swift is attempting to enlighten the reader with is that although humans can seem to be important and quasi-perfect, they all have major flaws that may never be discovered by others of their species.  No single human being is perfect in any aspect, and none will ever be in the future.  Having Gulliver discover the Brobdingnags helps us remember this and also provides a better look on this topic. 

The Brobdingnags of Gulliver’s Travels had many perplexing attributes, for their simplicity made life easier and according to Jonathan Swift, better.  For example, this group of inhabitants never had enemies to go into battle with, which clearly made their life easier and safer.  Although they still gathered an entire army of thousands of men, they never found the need to use one of them.  This is clearly due to the abundance of simplicity of them, for they created no urge for enemies or themselves to attack.  However, one cannot forget the fact that technology could actually prevent battle from happening as much as simplicity does, for they could excel more in depth in communication, overall leading to a better connection with hypothetical enemies.  In addition, better weapons and protection could be provided with such innovation to aim the country in a competitive, modern society.  The Brobdingnags failed to understand this and therefore never advanced to anywhere outside of their own little world.

Humanity has always been familiar with high amounts of technology and innovation, which has helped to maintain the continuation of new development in the world.  However, once simplicity is intertwined into daily life, all novelty is inexistent until creativity is introduced.  Simplicity can make life much easier, yet also destructs the power to create new ideas.