Can you provide an example of a metaphor in Gulliver's Travels?
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 with Gulliver about Gulliver's home country of England. He says, in part,
"[...] I cannot but conclude the bulk of your natives to be the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth."
Thus, the king uses a metaphor to compare humans, but especially the residents of England, to vermin. Vermin is a word typically applied to small and common harmful animals, or animals that tend to disgust humans; rats, mice, fleas, lice, cockroaches, and so on, are the types of animals that are frequently referred to as vermin. Despite Gulliver's pride in his home and species, the king finds humanity's violence...
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and apparent lack of morality to be major faults—flaws that make them seem inhuman and more animalistic.
One of the major metaphors in Swift's Gulliver's Travels is the society of the Lilliputians who serve as stand-ins for the people of England at the time. Swift uses them to suggest that the British ways of government and schooling and even the economic system are completely illogical and even immoral.
He also uses other races to contrast those with practical sense and a better sense of morals such as the Brobdingnagians to show how a people could be much more advanced and prosperous if they would have more practical sense and treat each other with more respect.
Can you provide a simile example from Gulliver's Travels?
A simile is a comparison which uses the words “like” or “as.” Unlike a metaphor, which describes something as if it were something else, a simile is a more indirect comparison. There are many such comparisons, but here are some examples. For each page number I use the enotes etext, which you can access yourself to find the quotes.
“ a hundred arrows discharged on my left hand, which pricked me like so many needles” (enotes etext p. 9)
“he desired I would stand like a colossus, with my legs as far asunder as I conveniently could” (p. 18)
“I was first taken up, had seen a great black substance lying on the ground, very oddly shaped, its edges extended round as wide as his Majesty's bed-chamber, and rising up in the middle as high as a man; that it was no living creature, as they at first apprehended, for it lay on the grass without motion; (p. 18)
In Guillver’s Travels, there is an element of fantasy. Throughout the story, things are compared to our world. This is an easy way of describing something which is different and imaginary so people understand it, but also a way for Gulliver to make sense of this new world and the strange things he sees, and often make satirical comparisons for our benefit.