How is education defined? How is ignorance defined? These definitions can vary depending on the person, their lives, and up-bringing. In Swift’s, “Gulliver’s Travels” Gulliver is portrayed as a well educated man. In which he is in his own respect. But he classifies the people he sees and studies as ignorant. When in their own society, they may be well educated. As well as Gulliver may seem ignorant to them. For instance in today’s society you can take a well educated business man from a big city, place him in the middle of the country to farm. Something he doesn’t know, he becomes ignorant and the farmer is the intelligent one. But in the opposite scenario, and more commonly known and accepted, put a farmer in the city and he is ill-educated compared to those in the city. So you see one can be educated, yet still ignorant in many aspects, which people seem to over look now days. Gulliver noted how these people were the lesser people compared to himself, labeled ignorant. Then at one point came to a realization stating; “When I happened to behold the reflection of my own form in a lake or fountain, I turned away my face in horror and detestation of myself, and could better endure the sight of a common Yahoo than of my own person” (Swift 472). I believe this moment captures his realization of their similarities through their differences along with regret in his writings, putting these people down, before understanding them. When before believing he was the educated one and they were the ignorant ones, but that idea changed.
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