Away from Liberty

 

Gulliver is imprisoned by the Lilliputians and is used to entertain the nobility. This two chapters of Gulliver's Travels show how the Lilliputians which are very small compared to Gulliver take away his freedom and use him as a source of entertainment. I don't know why they can control him if he is 12 times their size.

"Some time after, 

asking a friend at court how they came to fix on that determinate number, 

he told me that his majesty’s mathematicians, having taken the height of 

my body by the help of a quadrant, and finding it to exceed theirs in the 

proportion of twelve to one" (30)

I don't understand if they are so small compared to Gulliver why doesn't he goes away. He is then given his liberty back after his pleadings pass through the Council and the majesty of Lilliput. But he has to follow 9 articles to prevent him from escaping or destroying any thing in Lilliput. It is kind of silly to think that Gulliver Being so big compared to them is treated like an animal in zoo. 

There is something that I connect to this chapters in Gulliver and it is called the Elephants Metaphor. This is something that happens when Baby elephants that are born captive are chained to strong pillars so that they cant escape. Since they are small and their muscles haven't developed fully yet they obviously cant break the chains. They grow up with the idea that the chains are unbreakable and they loose all their hope of being free. When they are at their maximum size they can break these chains with no effort but since they have the memory of the chains being very strong they don't even try to break them.

Although this is not exactly what is happening to Gulliver it is very much alike. He is stronger than his capturers and can easily escape. The articles that they give them after they give him a partial liberty are nothing that he can't break but there is something that doesn't leave him escape. As the Elephant Metaphor, Gulliver is much bigger than his captors and can escape if he wanted. His metaphorical chains are really nothing compared to what he can do.