I think after reading this entire book, the idea of finding a home was a prevalent theme throughout the entire novel. I know Bachalard has all these warm fuzzy conceptions of home as this kind and nurturing place, somewhat similar to this picture (unfortunately you can't see the basement though)
but that's obviously not the case since Gulliver chose to leave it over and over again. Granted, his tainted reaction at the end of the book isn't an accurate depiction of why, but there had to be some reason for him to constantly be leaving his family for long voyages, especially after continuously being lost and almost killed by all these different cultures. It got my thinking about the idea of home and what makes one feel as home and I feel like it has more to do with the space you settle in, or the place on the map. Gulliver settled in all these places,
for a while at least, but none of them really felt like home because he wasn't ever fully accepted, nor did he fully except the inhabitants. I think the closest he came was in the land of the Houyhnhnms, but they rejected him because he was too similar to the things they considered inferior, the Yahoos. I think to consider something a home, you have to be accepted by the community, but that got me to thinking, what exactly defines a community? Is it just a group of people based on some social rules, or based around the area they live in? Is one group of people different than another if they live ten feet away but have a different area code? I think this idea of community has very real ties to the places and space the people inhabit, which is pretty interesting I think.
but that's obviously not the case since Gulliver chose to leave it over and over again. Granted, his tainted reaction at the end of the book isn't an accurate depiction of why, but there had to be some reason for him to constantly be leaving his family for long voyages, especially after continuously being lost and almost killed by all these different cultures. It got my thinking about the idea of home and what makes one feel as home and I feel like it has more to do with the space you settle in, or the place on the map. Gulliver settled in all these places,
for a while at least, but none of them really felt like home because he wasn't ever fully accepted, nor did he fully except the inhabitants. I think the closest he came was in the land of the Houyhnhnms, but they rejected him because he was too similar to the things they considered inferior, the Yahoos. I think to consider something a home, you have to be accepted by the community, but that got me to thinking, what exactly defines a community? Is it just a group of people based on some social rules, or based around the area they live in? Is one group of people different than another if they live ten feet away but have a different area code? I think this idea of community has very real ties to the places and space the people inhabit, which is pretty interesting I think.
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