“GULLIVER’S TRAVELS” a Satire
Jonathan Swift, an Anglo-Irish writer, was born in Dublin on the 30th October 1667. he was one of the greatest satirists of the universal literature. His pamphlets have a stinging sarcasm through which he accused moral-political vices or religious ones (ex. “A Tale of a Tub”, ”A Meditation upon a Broomstick”) or pamphlets which defend the Irish cause (“The Drapiers Letters”). His fame was brought by “GULLIVER’S TRAVELS”. This is a realistic parody of social dynamic, remarkable for the greatness of its metaphors, consciousness of vision and its style.
GULLIVER’S TRAVELS is a satire in four parts as the author himself called it. In the first pages of the book we are told that Gulliver began his voyages as a ship surgeon and afterwards as captain of other ships. The four parts of the book represent four voyages: A Voyage to Lilliput; A Voyage to Brobdingnag; A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdrib, Luggnagg and Japan and A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms. Each of them represents a different type of society and in each of them the object of the author’s irony is different.
The first trip satirises the moral and spiritual pettiness of humanity, revealing to the reader the foolish reasons for starting a war between two countries that were once good friends; the absurd rules of society. This six-inch tall people of Book I reveal themselves to be as small morally as they are physically. The revelation of their pettiness comes gradually to the reader. Gulliver’s hosts gossip meanly about each other; they fight over such trivial things as which end of an egg should be broken first; and their king is angry when Gulliver refuses to help him bring a neighbour country into slavery.
In this book, number I, we encounter satire on travel books and travellers. Swift is mainly protesting against the ridiculous travellers who report absolutely everything about his trip.
Book II “A Voyage to Brobdingnag” is a satire on the wickedness and vanity of mankind. Gulliver, just recently big in a land of little people, is now little in a land of giants. Although it might be too much to say that in this way Swift prepared the reader to expect that Gulliver won’t live very well in this country, judged by the moral norms of big people; but that is in fact what happens. When the judgement is made, it appears that Gulliver’s race is one of “little odious vermin”.
Swift, Jonathon. "Gulliver's Travels." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. 2489-632. Print.
Gulliver's Travels reflects characters to the reader in numerous inventively nauseating ways. Quick uses his imaginative revamping of every day life to make the meanest, most clever, dirtiest tirade of the whole eighteenth century. Throughout this novel, Swift utilizes amazing misrepresentation and parody to make a figurative association between the distinctive societies experienced on Lemuel Gulliver's excursions and about his own particular society, reprimanding his general public's traditions.
Gulliver's Travels is one of the most beloved satires of all time (Forster 11). Yet, careful analysis shows it to be very complex with not one definite interpretation. A very surface reading may leave one feeling that the point of the book is "don't be Yahoo." This is the message that David Ward feels Gulliver the character is giving and says that it is no more complex than Orwell's, "four legs good, two legs bad." But this grows out of the fact of Gulliver's nature. A synthesis of the opinions of the writers I read paints Gulliver as an average man of average courage, honesty, compassion, and intellect, a typical Englishman. But there is nothing typical about Gulliver's Travels.
Nichols, M. P. (2008). Family therapy: Concepts and methods (9th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Lock, F. P. The Politics of Gulliver's Travels. Oxford, Great Britain: Oxford University Press, 1980.
Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver’s Travels. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol C. 9th ed. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 2492-2633. Print.
Past the political satire and laughable motifs in the book Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, the purpose of this story is to show everything ignoble and tactless of the human species in general and that humans are truly disgusting. Also exploring the idea of a utopia. Swift uses the literary device of political satire to show how childish and ignorant human acts were. This is because during Swift's time in the eighteenth century, Britain was modernizing at this time. The reader follows the four narrative travels of the main character, Lemuel Gulliver. Each of the four voyages Gulliver has traveled to, is a different society that portrays one of the main ideals of the eighteenth century in Britain. The four places Gulliver has traveled to were Lilliput; being Gulliver's first voyage, Brobdingnag; his second voyage, Laputa; the third voyage, and lastly to the land of the Houyhnhms; being his last voyage and afterwards traveling back home to England. The experience from being exposed to these four societies has had a huge impact on how Gulliver now sees humans.
The first book covers Gulliver’s encounters with the Lilliputians. The Lilliputians are a race of small and peculiar humanoids with oddly specific particularities. For example, rather than electing government officials based on merit and
To begin, Gulliver’s initial realization of other imperfect world’s comes when he lands on the shores of Lilliput as a giant, being disadvantaged and ungrateful for his change. Gulliver is soon taken over by Lilliputians as he st...
In Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver's Travels, satire is ever-present: in plot, character and setting. Dystopia and utopia set the story, with grotesque added to sharpen character facets. The title character narrates the novel, and all actions are told through his point of view. His voyages expose him to extraordinary and absurd circumstances, used as fodder for mockery, and all throughout Gulliver’s travails society is ridiculed, and a bitter light is cast on humanity. Character growth is not spared: in the beginning Gulliver is much one-dimensional, and as he changes, Swift uses his growth as another ancillary conduit to let loose more satirical prowess. In the world as painted by Swift, Dystopia and Utopia are not what they seem: all through the changes happening in the novel, corruption and deceit brings rewards; moral rectitude brings emptiness and misfortune.
Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels presents a narrator, Lemuel Gulliver, who recounts his various sea voyages to fantastical lands. During each voyage, Gulliver encounters different societies and customs to which Gulliver must adjust to. in order to be accepted into their society The entire novel serves as a commentary on how people everywhere have a tendency to abuse the power given to them.
The main character, Gulliver, is a well educated sailor. He has been recommended to be a surgeon. Traveling around the world, exploring new places, Gulliver meets many new cultures and civilizations. Gulliver wears clothes not uncommon to the 1700's. He has long hair, that sometimes restricts him from turning his head. Gulliver is a round character. This can be seen when he refers to past experiences during an adventure. This means that he can compare the two situations, thus learning from it. There are many minor characters. Easier referred to by the names of their people. Them being: the small Lilliputians, the giant Brobdingnags, the creatures at Lugnagg and Balnibarbi, with the islands of Laputa and Blubdrubdrib. And finally, the Yahoos and Houyhnhnms. Gulliver's stories are told in the first person by himself.
Lilliput, Brombdinag, and the land of Houyhnhnms are the most relevant satire in Gulliver’s travels. Jonathan Swift uses these places to “roast” the European society. Swift desires for Europeans to realize their flaws and develop them. Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels is a marvelous adaption of English society flawed.
Think of a time when people didn’t have technology and how they had to interact, whether it had been from writing letters to using telegraphs, communicating with people was hard to come by back then. Of course times have changed and now technology has made it easier over the years, social media has become an essential part of our life whether it be on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and many other websites. Now days everybody is using it whether its companies using media to promote its products or even teachers to tweet out what last night’s homework was. Social media is a great tool that helps us connect with the world and communicate our ideas. Yet there are some people who believe that social media has a negative impact towards our society as they believe that people can get addicted to it, it causes them to get easily distracted, and many other dangers. Even though people have different opinions on whether social media has a positive or negative impact on society, it can be said that social media has a positive effect on society as a whole because it lets people communicate with each other easily, it has been said to improve education among children, and has helped improve the economy in the world.
In Gulliver’s Travel, a novel written by Jonathan Swift, there are many political themes and satirical descriptions of the English government. During Swift’s time, the early 1700s, the Tory government and the Whig government opposed each other. Hoping that they would appoint him to the Church of England, Swift joined the Tories, but he was not appointed to the position by the Queen. When Tory government was in trouble for treason with the French, the Whig government took over, and Swift left politics to publish Gulliver’s Travel to show the disagreements between the two parties and between the Protestant English and the Catholic French, who did not agree on religious values. Swift wrote Gulliver’s Travel also to show his idealized vision for the English society. In the novel, Swift criticizes the government as he narrates the adventures which Gulliver experiences at different islands with foreign and unique groups of people. In a way, Swift creates utopian societies at the Lillitupian Island and the Brobdingnag Island to exhibit the imperfection of government that existed in England. As Gulliver, Swift’s main character, interacts with these societies, he criticizes some of their customs and laws. He notices that these societies are not utopian from his perspective. Although there are many themes throughout Gulliver’s Travels, this paper will focus on part one and two examining the utopian societies Swift creates for Gulliver to experience through his interactions with the Lilliputians and Brobdingnagian people system of government.