Characteristics Of Gulliver's Travels

However, before Swift published any famous works, he made a significant personal decision about how he would live the rest of his days. Swift chose to apply for priesthood in the Anglican Church (Biography.com Editors) in 1694. After writing a short letter, he successfully obtained the role in October that year (Damrosch, 71-72). Despite this, Swift could not find any pathways to advance higher up into the church ranks. Instead of being lazy or slothful, Swift spent the years of 1696 to 1698 self-educating himself over history, literature, and languages. His actions provided him with more nourishment to his mind, and further enhanced his writing capabilities (Damrosch, 79-82). Equipped with knowledge achieved through hard work, Swift set out

For example, Gulliver encountered gigantic bugs and tools in a city called Brobdingnag, although those things were tiny in the real world. Another quality element that distinguished Gulliver’s Travels from other quality works was the creativity of Swift. He displays this in numerous original drawings and descriptions, and various authors redrew his words into their own interpretations. Even obscure details have deeper meanings behind them. When Gulliver is chained with padlocks, Swift illustrates his feelings of wear that writing political pamphlets had done to him (Damrosch,

Because he was very old, most creative aspects of his mind had seemingly run dry. Amazingly, he had one more masterpiece left to write. Although A Modest Proposal lasted just ten pages, without superfluous padding or pomp that would separate it from other plain pamphlets, it contained amusing wit and humor that entertained the reader once again (Damrosch, 418). Because of a brutal famine and winter in 1728 to 1729, many Irishmen either died or suffered from starvation. How could those unfortunate circumstances be reversed? A Modest Proposal offered an absurd and ludicrous solution to the matter: if unintentional infanticide was unavoidable, why not make it profitable? Swift argued that cooking children would provide delicious meals to the starving and be equitable (Damrosch, 417-419). While the prospect of his argument appears as insanity to the modern viewer, Swift wrote his pamphlet so well that he fooled some into irrational anger. Shockingly, few did not realize the satirical nature of the pamphlet and argued that Swift was a madman. This demonstrated the power of Swift’s writing to the people of his day (Damrosch,