To anyone who has ever had power or been powerless,
In my English class, I was assigned to read a book called Gulliver’s Travel and if we are going to be honest I did not enjoy it but I still felt there was a strong message in the writing. If you do not know what the book is about, this man named Lemuel goes on multiple adventures and on each one, he ends up on an island with a different culture. The first island is full of extremely small people and he is depicted as a giant. The second island is full of giants and he was depicted as a miniature person. The third island is full of horses and people just like Lemuel. He eventually wanted to stay on the last island because he felt equal.
As I read, I had no idea what I wanted to write about. But I noticed in the first part, Gulliver had some power because he was big. In part two, Gulliver was tiny, and he had no power at all. In the fourth part of the book, Gulliver finally finds equality. I started thinking about what gives people power in the real world. It’s not really size, but things like money, skin color, family name, political pull, economic control, etc. giving people the power over others.
For me personally, I only relate to one. Since I am white, I have unspoken privileges that people see but nobody wants to talk about. I get looked passed in the hallways at school and I seem to get better treatment in stores and restaurants. For me, life is simple, life is easy; but what about those who are darker than me? They walk around schools and streets feeling like they are less than everyone just because the color of their skin. That’s not what life should like.
In Gulliver’s Travel shows that equality makes everyone happier and having unethical powers makes life difficult. To those who have power, what makes you so much better than everyone else? Why should your skin color or last name make you worth more? I’m not saying all power is bad, as the United States has a more powerful army than most which is beneficial, but how does something you can’t control determine your entire life?
