Questioning British Colonialism: Gulliver's Travels and The Woman of Colour

“...I am disappointed in England: I expected to meet with sensible, liberal, well informed and rational people, but I have not found them; I see a compound of folly and dissimulation...” (Anonymous 88)

“But I must freely confess, that the many virtues of those excellent quadrupeds, placed in opposite view to human corruptions, had so far opened my eyes and enlarged my understanding, that I began to view the actions and passions of man in a very different light, and to think of my own kind not worth managing; which, besides, it was impossible for me to do, before a person of so acute a judgement as my master, who daily convinced me of a thousand faults in myself, whereof I had not the least perception before, and which, with us, would never be numbered even among human infirmities.” (Swift 151)

Both The Woman of Colour (1808) and Gulliver's Travels (1726) express disappointment in England that challenged the national narrative of the British being at the top of the world hierarchy at the time. This disappointment is evident in Gulliver's Travels when Gulliver lives with the Houyhnhnms, who are so moral in their conduct that they have no words to describe vices in their language (143). Their behavior pushes him to reconsider the Britain he has hitherto praised and "view the actions and passions of man in a very different light, and to think of [his] own kind not worth managing" (151). In rejecting the idea that humans, or Yahoos, can improve their lot, Gulliver rejects Britain's imperial mission. He makes this clear by pointing to the number of faults he exhibited and had previously been unaware of before arriving to this land. In representing Britain, Swift indirectly begs the question: how can Britain set out to civilize another when Britain is not so civilized itself? At the end of his novel, he pleads with the Crown not to attempt to colonize the lands he had discovered for this reason.

Almost a century later, The Woman of Colour continues such criticism in reflecting on British imperialism. Unlike Gulliver, Olivia Farfield has learned all she has of England through her English father and governesses' recollections, which form her conception of England in addition to their own characters. Due to her admiration of these parental figures and her first-hand experience of British dominance in Jamaica, Olivia expresses disappointment in conversing with the English. This disappointment is particularly palpable when she recounts a ballroom dance. Due to Britain's assumed superiority in education, technology, governance, and empire, Olivia imagines that she will encounter "sensible, liberal, well informed and rational people" (88). However, she is disappointed when she sees only "a compound of folly and dissimulation" at this event, representing society's upper and supposedly more educated classes. Some of these characters are themselves involved in the Indian colonial mission, leading the reader to question what “morals” they are promoting there.

As England expanded its empire and justified its intervention in other countries as a moral enterprise, its conduct came under scrutiny. Both Swift and Anonymous depict English society as uncivilized, using such words as “corruption” and “folly” to characterize it. Such descriptions were often employed by Englishmen in their travels to colonies to justify English colonization of those lands. Thus, Swift and Anonymous’ positive experiences in former or potential colonies forced them to reckon with the England’s own degree of civilization and reevaluate its imperial justification.

Works Cited

Anonymous. The Woman of Colour: A Tale. Edited by Lyndon J Dominique, Broadview Press,

2008.

Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver's Travels. Millennium Publications, 2015.