Abstract
Literature is a written work of art that goes beyond the realm of nations and gets united by themes, motifs and so on. This paper is a study of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels and Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. Jonathan Swift is an Irish novelist who depicts the types of human qualities a human encounters in a foreign land in The Gulliver’s Travel. The same goes with Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe where the concept of enduring struggles is dealt with. The concept of alienation is also discussed in detail. Alienation is the state of being alienated. Though the novels mainly deal with traveling and exploring, both protagonists are traveling alone for their sake. Somehow they are alienated. Alienation happens not only when someone willingly chooses to be isolated from society but also when several situations push them to be isolated without any go. But here the protagonists willingly chose to be isolated in their travel. This study aims to explore the thematic similarities and differences, narrative styles, and underlying philosophical perspectives of the two novels. This research paper presents the characteristics, and perspectives, and clearly portrays the findings from both novels.
Keywords: Survival, Exploration, Travel, Alienation, Children’s Literature.
References
Bauman, Zygmunt. Modernity and Ambivalence. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1991.
Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe, Oxford University Press Inc, 2007.
Eagleton, Terry. The Ideology of the Aesthetic. Oxford: Blackwell, 1990.
Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver’s Travels, Oxford University Press Inc, 2005.