Gulliver's Travels

One could argue that the main idea of Gulliver's Travels is that we must always be prepared to challenge our cultural preconceptions. As with anyone, Gulliver harbors many such preconceptions and...

Jonathan Swift's book Gulliver's Travels, begins with a letter from Gulliver to his cousin, and is then divided into four parts. Each part is named after the places he visits in that section. Parts...

Irony occurs when there is some discrepancy between what we expect and what the reality is. We do not really expect Gulliver to end up in locations where human beings are so very different,...

At first, the Lilliputians assume that, because of his size, Gulliver will be violent and aggressive, so they treat him as an enemy. They tie him down, shoot him with arrows, and eventually...

Gulliver is an adventurous soul, possessed with an insatiable wanderlust that makes it impossible for him to settle down in any one place for too long. No sooner is he back in the bosom of his...

Jonathan Swift brilliantly satirizes conflicts in the Western world through the Lilliput - Blefuscu war in his novel, Gulliver's Travels. Though the war is bitter and violent, the conflict between...

Lemuel Gulliver is the protagonist of Swift's satire Gulliver's Travels. He was born in Nottinghamshire, England in approximately 1661 to a middle- or upper-middle-class family. He attended...

Swift used the Lilliputians to satirize the English court of his day. In a broad sense, the rope-dancers in chapter three can be seen as a comic take on the work people in the English court would...

The first person point of view in Gulliver's Travels is important as it makes it much easier for the reader to identify with the story's protagonist. During his epic voyage, Gulliver encounters...

Gulliver's large size is the biggest problem the Lilliputians have with him. When he falls asleep on their shores and they come across his huge body, they are naturally terrified. After all, if he...

Swift presents Gulliver's Travels as a series of first-person travelogue journals. This is done to mimic the style of travelogue books, which were popular during the novel's time of publication....

The major difference between the Lilliputians and Brobdingnagians is that of character. The Lilliputians though small in size were cruel, disrespectful and ungrateful towards Gulliver. First and...

The main satirical point in part 4 of Gulliver’s Travels is essentially the same as that in the first three books, though it is perhaps even more bluntly expressed. That point is to ridicule and...

When Gulliver first wakes up in Lilliput, he feels a desire to suddenly seize forty or fifty of the tiny Lilliputians and "dash them against the Ground." He doesn't act on this urge because he...

Lilliput and Blefuscu are satirical depictions of England and France. Like England and France, these two countries are at one another's throats politically and culturally. Their big dispute is...

Many have pointed out how Swift uses Gulliver's Travels to satirize specific institutions of his day, be it the British parliament, political factions in government, the monarchy, or the Royal...

One example of satire in part 2 of Gulliver’s Travels is the location of Brobdingnag. In the text of part 2, Jonathan Swift provides a map of the fictional country, which appears to reside in the...

Much of the humor in Part I comes from the visual imagery of the contrast in size between Gulliver and the Lilliputians. The image of their hundred arrows shot into his hand that feel like the...

In Lilliput, the six-inch-high residents of that land capture Gulliver, who has washed up on their shores. They bind him as he lies on the beach and shoot their tiny arrows in him, which do not...

Jonathan Swift was one of the leading satirists in English literature. In Gulliver's Travels, he satirizes many aspects of literature, politics, religion, and philosophy, even critiquing the "tall...

Gulliver's various journeys can be seen as providing him with valuable experience of the wider world. A somewhat naive and insular young man at the start of his journeys, Gulliver becomes more...

In speaking with the King of Brobdingnag, Gulliver discovers that their culture is very different from his own; they are peaceful and moralistic, and Gulliver decides that although somewhat naive,...

Language is a recurring theme in Gulliver's Travels as he voyages to other nations that are vastly different and quite imaginary. In particular, when Gulliver travels to the land of the Houyhnhnms,...

Ironically, although Gulliver is initially charmed by the attractive looks of the tiny Lilliputians, they end up treating him badly. They show themselves, much like Swift's idea of the British, to...

In general, it is clear that Swift's depiction of the societies his protagonist, Gulliver, encounters during his adventures suggests a cynical perspective. Swift's point of view is not positive or...

The satirical allegory Gulliver’s Travels was published in 1726 by Jonathan Swift (1667-1745). The book incorporates the author’s vision and criticism of humankind, and is especially savage towards...

The first answer to this post thoroughly covered the allegorical connections in part I of Gulliver's Travels. Swift goes on to write three more parts to Gulliver's Travels. Each part takes him to...

Gulliver discovers he is going to be accused of high treason in Lilliput. He also learns that, due to the "great leniency" of the ruler, he will only have to submit to having his eyes put out by...

Gulliver's Travels is a satire that follows the protagonist, Lemuel Gulliver, as he voyages to various exotic fictional locales. Each of the fantastic races he encounters in his travels satirizes...

Irony occurs when words mean the opposite of what they seem to suggest on the surface, or when events work out in a way opposite than expected or intended. On Lilliput, the six inch high people are...

One day, after Gulliver has impressed the emperor and people with his gentleness and docility, the emperor decides to entertain Gulliver by allowing the visitor to watch the rope dancers who...

Satire pokes fun at social problems and human weaknesses, often using exaggeration. In Gulliver's Travels, Swift pokes fun at the human tendency to equate physical beauty with moral beauty and...

I would say there are several potential candidates. First, as the answer previous to this one has already given, there is Skyris Bolgolam, who certainly emerges as a major candidate, given his...

In chapter 7, Gulliver learns that Flimnap, Skyresh Bolgolam, and other politicians have drafted articles of impeachment for committing treason and other capital crimes against Lilliput. The...

Gulliver sees the words "quinbus flestrin" on the inventory of his pockets which the Lilliputians took early in his stay in Lilliput. He says that he interprets the words to mean "great...

The emperor of Lilliput is not only a small man in terms of physical stature, but he is also small in the figurative sense of being petty. This pettiness is on full display when he becomes angry...

Swift's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. By Lemuel Gulliver (1726), a satire of eighteenth-century British society and traveler's stories (which were very popular in England), has...

Gulliver is treated quite well by the farmer's young daughter, a girl he calls his "Glumdalclitch," which means little nurse. He says, in fact, that he would be guilty of great ingratitude, if...

Many of the best satirical quotations in Gulliver's Travels relate to Swift's insinuated political commentary. As someone cynically disillusioned by his own unhappy involvement in the world of...

In Gulliver's Travels, Gulliver discovers that Lilliput and a nearby island Blefescu have been at war for a long time over what seems to him to be a ridiculous issue: a dispute over which end one...

A metaphor is a comparison of two unalike things, where one thing is said to be another. One of the most powerful metaphors in the book is spoken by the giant King of Brobdingnag while he speaks...

Satire pokes fun at weaknesses and problems in people and institutions. In Gulliver's Travels, Swift pokes fun at the European tendency to be violent, to judge by surface appearances, to put vanity...

In chapter 1 of part 1, Gulliver wakes up on the seashore, unable to move. He finds that his arms and legs are "strongly fastened on each side to the ground," and his hair is "tied down in the same...

Gulliver's Travels is a spoof on what is known as the "Traveler's Tales" genre in literature. The narrator "pretends" to be telling a tale about his travels, but the work is a satire on human...

I would suggest that the fourth part of Gulliver's Travels contains a criticism of the rationalism the Enlightenment espoused. Indeed, it's worth keeping in mind that Jonathan Swift himself could...

When his Master Houyhnhnm asks Gulliver what prompts wars, Gulliver enumerates the following four categories of reasons. "Sometimes [war is caused by] the Ambition of Princes, who never think they...

In the classic fantasy Gulliver's Travels (or Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World) by Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's first voyage is to the land of the Lilliputians, a race of tiny people...

Throughout the book, Lemuel Gulliver emphasizes his superiority to the people he encounters. One way he does so is by emphasizing his superior manners and well-reasoned behavior. Because the novel...

When Gulliver encounters the Lilliputians, they are at war with the nearby island of Blefuscu over a ridiculous religious question involving soft-boiled eggs. He helps the Lilliputians by capturing...

In Chapter II, at the Lilliput kingdom, Gulliver describes in detail how he was fed by the teeny tiny Lilliputians as directed by their emperor. According to Gulliver, the hurgo, or "great lord" of...