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Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 3 Chapter 10
Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 3 Chapter 10
The Luggnaggians are commended. A particular description of the Struldbrugs, with many conversations between the narrator and some eminent persons upon that subject are given here.
Gulliver found Luggnaggians polite and generous; though they were not without pride. He found many acquaintance and the conversations he had with them were not disagreeable.
One day, the Luggnaggians told Gulliver about certain immortal people, children bom with a red spot on their foreheads who were called Struldbrugs. Gulliver was delighted to find a country where every child had a chance of being bom immortal. The person Gulliver was speaking to asked Gulliver what he would do, if he had been bom immortal. Gulliver thought of many things he would do if he were immortal, starting with acquiring riches and in the course of time, becoming the wealthiest man in the kingdom.
He would apply himself to the acquisition of knowledge. He would bring about changes in customs, language, fashions of dress, diet and means of entertainment. He would live generously, yet still on the saving side. He would also take care to instruct young people among the mortals but choose only immortals as his constant companions. He would help those in need. He would see history take shape. He would see great inventions happen.
Gulliver counted many such desires. When he finished, the people listening to him laughed. His interpreter then clarified that Struldbrugs were immortal but were not eternally young. They aged at the same rate as other humans, the difference being, that at 80 years old, they were much more miserable than other old people because they had the prospect of living on and on beyond their 80 years.
According to the law of the country, as soon as a Struldbrug turned 80, he was dead in terms of the law, so all of his money went to his heirs—he was totally poor. Struldbrug marriages were also dissolved at 80, since they would make the couple so much more unhappy. At 90, they started losing their teeth, so they didn’t enjoy eating anymore. Their memories got bad and they couldn’t read without forgetting, at the end of a sentence, how it began.
Because language evolved with time, older Struldbrugs couldn’t understand younger people at all. They had to beg for money, since otherwise, they had to get by on a tiny state allowance. Gulliver met some Struldbrugs and found them to be unhappy and unpleasant and he regretted ever wishing for their state. At the same time, the Luggnaggian King reminded him that the sight of a Struldbrug cured everyone of the fear of death.