Ministerio de Educacin Provincia de Chubut.

INSTITUTO SUPERIOR DE FORMACIN DOCENTE N 801 JUANA

MANSO
CARRERA: PROFESORADO DE INGLS PARA EL TERCER CICLO DE LA
EDUCACIN GENERAL BSICA Y LA EDUCACIN POLIMODAL
ENGLISH LITERATURE II
Teacher:
Magdalena Anzor.
Seminar GULLIVERS TRAVELS- JONATHAN SWIFT.

Student: Gutirrez Leandro.

Year: Third
Group: 2010
Date: December 9th, 2014

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GULLIVERS TRAVELS- JONATHAN SWIFT

BIOGRAPHY.

Jonathan Swift, son of the English lawyer Jonathan Swift

the elder, was born in Dublin, Ireland, on November 30, 1667. He grew up
there in the care of his uncle before attending Trinity College at the age of
fourteen, where he stayed for seven years, graduating in 1688. In that year,
he became the secretary of Sir William Temple, an English politician and
member of the Whig party. In 1694, he took religious orders in the Church of
Ireland and then spent a year as a country parson. He then spent further
time in the service of Temple before returning to Ireland to become the
chaplain of the earl of Berkeley. Meanwhile, he had begun to write satires on
the political and religious corruption surrounding him, working on A Tale of a
Tub, which supported the position of the Anglican Church against its critics
on the left and the right, and The Battle of the Books, which argued for the
supremacy of the classics against modern thought and literature. He also
wrote a number of political pamphlets in favour of the Whig party. In 1709
he went to London to campaign for the Irish church but was unsuccessful.
After some conflicts with the Whig party, mostly because of Swifts strong
allegiance to the church, he became a member of the more conservative
Tory party in 1710.
Unfortunately for Swift, the Tory government fell out of power in 1714 and
Swift, despite his fame for his writings, fell out of favour. Swift, who had
been hoping to be assigned a position in the Church of England, instead
returned to Dublin, where he became the dean of St. Patricks. During his
brief time in England, Swift had become friends with writers such as
Alexander Pope, and during a meeting of their literary club, the Martinus
Scriblerus Club, they decided to write satires of modern learning. The third
voyage of Gullivers Travels is assembled from the work Swift did during this
time. However, the final work was not completed until 1726, and the
narrative of the third voyage was actually the last one completed. After his
return to Ireland, Swift became a staunch supporter of the Irish against
English attempts to weaken their economy and political power, writing
pamphlets such as the satirical A Modest Proposal, in which he suggests
that the Irish problems of famine and overpopulation could be easily solved
by having the babies of poor Irish subjects sold as delicacies to feed the
rich.
Gullivers Travels was a controversial work when it was first published in
1726. In fact, it was not until almost ten years after its first printing that the
book appeared with the entire text that Swift had originally intended it to
have. Ever since, editors have excised many of the passages, particularly
the more caustic ones dealing with bodily functions. Even without those
passages, however, Gullivers Travels serves as a biting satire, and Swift
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ensures that it is both humorous and critical, constantly attacking British

and European society through its descriptions of imaginary countries.
Late in life, Swift seemed to many observers to become even more caustic
and bitter than he had been. Three years before his death, he was declared
unable to care for himself, and guardians were appointed. Based on these
facts and on a comparison between Swifts fate and that of his character
Gulliver, some people have concluded that he gradually became insane and
that his insanity was a natural outgrowth of his indignation and outrage
against humankind. However, the truth seems to be that Swift was suddenly
incapacitated by a paralytic stroke late in life, and that prior to this incident
his mental capacities were unimpaired.
THEME
Some of the themes dealt in the book were: might versus rights, the limits
of human understanding, and the individual versus society.
The Limits of Human Understanding: It dealt with the idea that humans
were not meant to know everything and that all understanding had
a natural limit. His portrait of the disagreeable Laputans showed
contempt for those who were not sunk in private theorizing. It was
a clear satire against those who pride themselves on knowledge
above all else. Practical knowledge was also satirized when it did
not produce results, as in the academy of Balnibarbi. His depictions
of rational societies, like Brobdingnag and Houyhnhnmland,
emphasized not these peoples knowledge or understanding of
abstract ideas but their ability to live their lives in a wise and
steady way. The Houyhnhnms knew little about subjects like
astronomy, though they knew how long a month was by observing
the moon, since that knowledge had a practical effect on their wellbeing. Swift also emphasized the importance of self-understanding.
Gulliver was initially lacking in self-reflection and self-awareness.
CHARACTER LIST.
Gulliver: He was the narrator and main character of the story.
Lilliputians and Blefuscudians: They were two races of miniature people
whom Gulliver met on his first voyage.
The Emperor: He was the ruler of Lilliput
Flimnap: He was the Lord High Treasurer of Lilliput, who conceived a
jealous hatred for Gulliver when he started believing that his wife was
having an affair with him.
Reldresal: He was the Principal Secretary of Private Affairs in Lilliput, who
explained to Gulliver the history of the political tensions between the two
principal parties in the realm, the High-Heels and the Low-Heels
Skyresh Bolgolam: He was the High Admiral of Lilliput, who was the only
member of the administration to oppose Gullivers liberation.
Tramecksan: They were known as the High-Heels, a Lilliputian political
group reminiscent of the British Tories.
Lamecksan: They were known as the Low-Heels, a Lilliputian political group
reminiscent of the British Whigs.
Brobdingnagians: They were giants whom Gulliver met on his second
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The farmer: He was Gullivers first master in Brobdingnag.

Glumdalclitch: She was the farmers nine-year-old daughter, who was forty
feet tall.
The queen: She was the queen of Brobdingnag,
The king: He was the king of Brobdingnag, who, in contrast to the emperor
of Lilliput, seemed to be a true intellectual, well versed in political science
among other disciplines.
Laputans: They were absentminded intellectuals who lived on the floating
island of Laputa, met by Gulliver on his third voyage.
Lord Munodi: He was a lord of Lagado, capital of the underdeveloped land
beneath Laputa, who hosted Gulliver and gave him a tour of the country on
Gullivers third voyage.
The King of Laputa: He was a man of mathematical obsession who
explained the laws of his land to Gulliver. He also decreed that the lands
below Laputa should obey his laws. If they didn't, they will have to face the
consequences.
Yahoos: They were unkempt humanlike beasts who lived in servitude to the
Houyhnhnms.
Houyhnhnms: They were rational horses who maintain a simple, peaceful
society governed by reason and truthfulness- they did not even have a word
for lie in their language.
Gullivers Houyhnhnm master: He was the Houyhnhnm who first
discovered Gulliver and took him into his own home.
Don Pedro de Mendez: He was a Portuguese captain who took Gulliver
back to Europe after he was forced to leave the land of the Houyhnhnms.
Others: Mary Burton Gulliver (Gullivers wife); Richard
Sympson (Gullivers cousin, editor and publisher of Gullivers Travel).
James Bates (An eminent London surgeon and Gullivers master)
Abraham Pannell (The commander of the ship Swallow) William
Prichard (The master of the Antelope)
PLOT
Gullivers Travels told the story of Lemuel Gulliver, an Englishman trained as
a surgeon who took to the seas when his business had failed. In a firstperson narrative that rarely showed any signs of self-reflection or deep
emotional response, Gulliver told the adventures that he lived on those
travels.
Gullivers adventure in Lilliput began when he woke up after his ship was in
the middle of a storm, to find himself bound by innumerable tiny threads
and addressed by tiny captors who were in awe of him but fiercely
protective of their kingdom. They were not afraid to use violence against
Gulliver, though their arrows were little more than pinpricks. But overall,
they were hospitable, risking famine in their land by feeding Gulliver, who
consumed more food than a thousand Lilliputians combined could. Gulliver
was taken into the capital city by a big wagon the Lilliputians had specially
built. He was presented to the emperor, who was entertained by Gulliver,
just as Gulliver was flattered by the attention of royalty. Eventually Gulliver
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became a national resource, used by the army in its war against the people
of Blefuscu, whom the Lilliputians hate for doctrinal differences concerning
the proper way to crack eggs.
But things changed when Gulliver was convicted of treason for putting out a
fire in the royal palace with his urine and was condemned to be shot in the
eyes and starved to death. Gulliver went to Blefuscu, where he was able to
repair a boat he found and set sail for England.
After staying in England with his wife and family for two months, Gulliver
made his second voyage, which took him to a land of giants called
Brobdingnag. A field worker discovered him. The farmer initially treated him
as little more than an animal, keeping him for amusement. The farmer
eventually sold Gulliver to the queen, who made him a courtly diversion and
was entertained by his musical talents. Social life was easy for Gulliver after
his discovery by the court, but not particularly enjoyable. Gulliver was often
repulsed by the physicality of the Brobdingnagians, whose ordinary flaws
were many times magnified by their huge size. Thus, when a couple of
courtly ladies let him play on their naked bodies, he was not attracted to
them but rather disgusted by their enormous skin pores and the sound of
their torrential urination. More unsettling findings in Brobdingnag come in
the form of various animals of the realm that endanger his life. Even
Brobdingnagians insects left slimy trails on his food that make eating
difficult. On a trip to the frontier, accompanying the royal couple, Gulliver
left Brobdingnag when his cage was plucked up by an eagle and dropped
into the sea.
Next, Gulliver set sail again and, after an attack by pirates, ended up in
Laputa, where a floating island inhabited by theoreticians and academics
oppressed the land below, called Balnibarbi. The scientific research
undertook in Laputa and in Balnibarbi seemed totally inane and impractical,
and its residents too appeared wholly out of touch with reality. Taking a short
side trip to Glubbdubdrib, Gulliver was able to witness the conjuring up of
figures from history, such as Julius Caesar and other military leaders, whom
he found much less impressive than in books. After visiting the
Luggnaggians and the Struldbrugs, the latter of which were senile immortals
who prove that age did not bring wisdom, he was able to sail to Japan and
from there back to England.
Finally, on his fourth journey, Gulliver set out as captain of a ship, but after
the mutiny of his crew and a long confinement in his cabin, he arrived in an
unknown land. This land was populated by Houyhnhnms, rational-thinking
horses who ruled, and by Yahoos, brutish humanlike creatures who served
the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver set about learning their language, and when he
could speak he told his voyages to them and explained the constitution of
England. He was treated with great courtesy and kindness by the horses and
was enlightened by his many conversations with them and by his exposure
to their noble culture. He wanted to stay with the Houyhnhnms, but his
bared body reveals to the horses that he was very much like a Yahoo, and
he was banished. Gulliver agreed to leave with grief. He made a canoe and
made his way to an island, where he was picked up by a Portuguese ship
captain who treated him well, though Gulliver saw the captain- and all
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humans- as Yahoolike. Gulliver then ended his narrative with a claim that the
lands he had visited belong by rights to England, as her colonies, even
though he questioned the whole idea of colonialism.
ANALYSIS OF CHARACTERS
Lemuel Gulliver: The book started with this paragraph: My Father had a
small Estate in Nottinghamshire; I was the Third of five Sons.. I was bound
Apprentice to Mr. James Bates, an eminent Surgeon in London my Father
now and then sending me small Sums of Money When I left Mr. Bates, I
went down to my Father; where, by the Assistance of him and my Uncle
John I got Forty Pounds, and a Promise of Thirty Pounds a Year. (I.i)
This introduction was deeply significant because it revealed much about
Gullivers character: Gulliver was bourgeois: he was primarily interested in
money, acquisitions, and achievement, and his life story was filtered
through these desires. The first sentence meant more than just a statement
of his financial situation, since the third son of a possessor of only a small
Estate would have no hopes of inheriting enough on which to support
himself and would be expected to leave the estate and seek his own
fortune. If Gulliver had been the first-born son, he might very well not had
embarked on his travels. Besides, Gulliver provided no sentimental
characterization of his father, Bates, or Uncle John. There was no mention of
any youthful dreams or ambitions or of any romantic attachments.
He was the narrator and protagonist of the story. He was married to Mary
Burton with two children. He was intelligent and well educated, however, his
perceptions were nave and gullible.
I was ashore, in observing manners and dispositions of the people, as well
as learning their language, wherein I had a great facility by the strength of
my memory (I.i)
Sometimes his obsession with the facts of navigation became unbearable,
as his fictional editor, Richard Sympson, made clear when he explained
having had to cut out nearly half of Gullivers narration.
He spent sixteen years and seventeen months of his life travelling around
the world and learning about different cultures. These four adventures
changed Gullivers conception of life.
It gave me melancholy reflections to observe how much the race of human
kind was degenerating among us, within these hundred years past (III.viii)
When I thought of my family, my friends, my countrymen, or human race in
general, I considered them as they really were, Yahoos in shape and
disposition, perhaps a little more civilized, and qualified with the gift of
speech, but asking no other use of reason than to improve and multiply
those vices whereof their brethren in this country had only the share that
nature allotted them (IV.x)
I was chiefly disgusted with modern history (..) I found how the world had
been misled by prostitute writers, to ascribe the greatest exploits in war to
cowards, the wisest counsel to fools, sincerity to fletterers () (III.viii)
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He was an adventurer who visited a multitude of strange lands. He was

curious:
I abhorred such kind of spectacles (execution), yet my curiosity tempted
me to see something that I thought must be extraordinary (II.v)
He was not a hero but his attitudes for surviving were quite brave. He
underwent the experiences of being eaten by a giant rat, taken captive by
pirates, shipwrecked on faraway shores, sexually assaulted by an 11-yearold girl, and shot in the face with poison arrows. Despite the courage
showed by Gulliver in his voyages, his character lacked basic greatness: He
rarely showed his feelings, revealed his soul, or experienced great passions.
He said that he needed to make some money after the failure of his
business, but he rarely mentioned finances and indeed almost never even
mentioned home. He had no awareness of any greatness in what he was
doing or what he was working toward.
Gulliver also lacked of ingenuity. He seemed too dull for any battles of wit
and too unimaginative to think up tricks, and thus he ended up being
passive in most of the situations in which he found himself.
I lamented my own folly and willfulness in attempting a second voyage
against the advice of all my friends and relations (II.i)
He was held captive several times, but he was never released through his
own stratagems, relying instead on chance factors for his liberation. Once
presented with a way out, he worked hard to escape, as when he repaired
the boat he found that delivered him from Blefuscu, but he was never
actively ingenious in attaining freedom. His intelligence was factual and
practical rather than imaginative or introspective.
Gulliver was gullible: He missed the obvious ways in which the Lilliputians
exploit him. While he was quite adept at navigational calculations and the
details of seafaring, he was far less able to reflect on himself or his nation in
any critical way. Once he said I would never be a instrument of bringing a
free and brave people into slavery, I was so opposite the schemes and
politics of his Imperial Majesty (I.v)
Travelling to such different countries and returning to England in between
each voyage, he seemed poised to make some great anthropological
speculations about cultural differences around the world, about how
societies were similar despite their variations or different despite their
similarities. But Gulliver gave us nothing of the sort. He gave literal facts
and narrative events. He was a self-hating, self-proclaimed Yahoo at the end,
announcing his misanthropy quite loudly, but even this attitude was difficult
to accept as the moral of the story.
Lilliputians and Blefuscudians: They were two races of miniature people
whom Gulliver met on his 1st voyage. Lilliputians and Blefuscudians were
prone to conspiracies and jealousies, and while they treat Gulliver well
enough materially, they were quick to take advantage of him in political
intrigues of various sorts. The two races had been in a long war with each 6
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over the interpretation of the proper way to eat eggs. Gulliver helped the
Lilliputians defeat the Blefuscudian navy, but he left Lilliput and received a
warm welcome in the court of Blefuscu, by which Swift satirized the
arbitrariness of international relations. The Lilliputians represented much of
what was petty and small-minded about the English and humankind in
general. They were self-important, hypocritical, and surprisingly dangerous
and cruel in spite of their small size. Even though, These people are most
excellent mathematicians, and arrived to a great perfection in mechanics by
countenance and encouragement of the Emperor, who is a renowned patron
of learning.
Initially Gulliver was very frightened about these little natives, who had
taken him as a prisoner but, then with the help of the emperor and few
others, Gulliver befriended these people by helping them at war with their
enemy, Blefuscu. However, after using so many of their resources and
performing rude acts in public, he was forced to abandon the country (I.vi).
The Emperor: He was the ruler of Lilliput. Like all Lilliputians, the emperor
was fewer than six inches tall. He was described as: He is taller by almost
the breadth of my nail than any other of his court, which alone is enough to
strike an awe into the beholders. His features are strong and masculine,
with an Austrian lip and arched nose, his completion olive, his countenance
erect, his body and limbs well proportioned, all his motions graceful and his
deportment majestic. He was twenty eight years old and three quarters
old. (I.ii)
His power and majesty impressed Gulliver deeply, but at the same time, he
appeared laughable and sinister. He was described by extravagant terms:
GOLBASTO MOMAREN EVLAME GURILDO SHEFIN MULLY ULLY GUE, most
highly Emperor of Lilliput, delight and terror of the universe, whose
dominions extend five thousands blustrugs to the extremities of the globe;
monarch of all monarchs, taller than the sons of men, whose feet press
down to the centre, and whose head strikes against the sun, pleasant the
spring, comfortable as the summer, fruitful as autumn, dreadful as winter.
(I.iii)
Because of his tiny size, his belief that he can control Gulliver seemed silly,
but his willingness to execute his subjects for minor reasons of politics or
honour gave him a frightening aspect. He was proud of possessing the
tallest trees and biggest palace in the kingdom, but he was also quite
hospitable, spending a fortune on his captives food. The emperor was a
satire of the autocratic ruler and a strangely serious portrait of political
power.
Flimnap: He was the Lord High Treasurer of Lilliput, who conceived a
jealous hatred for Gulliver when he started believing that his wife was
having an affair with him. He was clearly paranoid, since the possibility of a
love affair between Gulliver and a Lilliputian was unlikely. He was a portrait
of the weaknesses to which any human was prone but that become
especially dangerous in those who had great power.
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Reldresal: He was the Principal Secretary of Private Affairs in Lilliput, who

explained to Gulliver the history of the political tensions between the two
principal parties in the realm, the High-Heels and the Low-Heels. He was
more a source of much-needed information for Gulliver, but he displayed
personal courage and trust in allowing Gulliver to hold him in his palm while
he talked politics. Within the context of Lilliputs conspiracies, such
friendliness showed that personal relations may still exist even in this
overheated political climate.
Skyresh Bolgolam: He was the High Admiral of Lilliput and the only
member of the administration to oppose Gullivers liberation. Gulliver
imagined that Skyreshs enmity was simply personal, as there was no
apparent reason for such hostility. Arguably, Skyreshs hostility may be
merely a tool to divert Gulliver from the larger system of Lilliputian
exploitation to which he was subjected.
Tramecksan: They were known as the High-Heels, a Lilliputian political
group reminiscent of the British Tories. Tramecksan policies were said to be
more agreeable to the ancient constitution of Lilliput, and while the HighHeels appeared greater in number than the Low-Heels, their power was
lesser. Unlike the king, the crown prince was believed to sympathize with
the Tramecksan, wearing one low heel and one high heel, causing him to
limp slightly.
Slamecksan: They were the Low-Heels, a Lilliputian political group
reminiscent of the British Whigs. The king had ordered that all governmental
administrators must be selected from this party, much to the resentment of
the High-Heels of the realm. Thus, while there were fewer Slamecksan than
Tramecksan in Lilliput, their political power was greater. The kings own
sympathies with the Slamecksan were evident in the slightly lower heels he
wore at court.
Brobdingnagians: They were Giants whom Gulliver met on his 2nd voyage.
They were a reasonable and kindly people governed by a sense of justice.
The learning of this people is defective, consisting only in inmorality,
history, poetry, and mathematics, wherein they must be allowed to excel.
But the last of these is wholly applied to what may be useful in life, to the
improvement of ariculture, and all mechanical arts (II.vii)
They were physically and morally bigger than Gulliver and represented
much of what was good in humankind. Even the farmer who abused Gulliver
at the beginning was gentle with him, and took the trouble to say good-bye
to him upon leaving him. The farmers daughter, Glumdalclitch, gave
Gulliver the most kind-hearted treatment he received on any of his voyages.
The Brobdingnagians did not exploit him for personal or political reasons,
they treated him as a plaything, a sort of strange animal for exhibition.
When he tried to speak seriously with the king of Brobdingnag about
England, the king dismissed the English as odious vermin, showing that
deep discussion was not possible for Gulliver there.
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The farmer: He was Gullivers first master in Brobdingnag. He spoke to

Gulliver, showing that he was willing to believe that the tiny Gulliver may be
as rational as he himself was, and treated him with gentleness. However,
the farmer put Gulliver on display around Brobdingnag, which clearly
showed that he would rather profit from his discovery than chat with him as
an equal. The farmer represented the average Brobdingnagians of no great
gifts or intelligence, exploiting an extraordinary power over Gulliver simply
by virtue of his immense size.
Glumdalclitch: He was the farmers 9-year-old daughter, who was forty
feet tall. She became Gullivers friend and nursemaid, hanging him to sleep
safely in her closet at night and teaching him the Brobdingnagians
language. She was skilled at sewing and made Gulliver sets of new clothes,
taking delight in dressing him. When the queen discovered that no one at
court was suited to care for Gulliver, she invited Glumdalclitch to live at
court as his babysitter, a function she performed with great seriousness and
attentiveness.
My mistress had a daughter of nine years old () she was able to dress me
and undress me. She was likewise my school mistress to teach me the
language. She was very good nature () I called her my Glumdalclitch or
little nurse: and I should be guilty if I omitted this honourable mention of her
care and affection towards me (II.ii)
She carried a little book in her pocket, not much larger than a Sansons
Atlas; it was a common treatise for the use of young girls, giving a short
account of their religion: out of this she taught me my letters, and
interpreted the words (II.ii)
To Glumdalclitch, Gulliver was a living doll, symbolizing the general status
Gulliver had in Brobdingnag.
She loved me to excess, yet was arch enough to inform the Queen,
whenever I commited any folly that she thought would be diverting to her
Majesty (II.v)
The Queen: She was the queen of Brobdingnag. She was so delighted by
Gullivers beauty that she agreed to buy him from the farmer for 1,000
pieces of gold. Gulliver liked her kindness after the hardships he suffered at
the farmers and showed his usual love for royalty by kissing the tip of her
little finger when presented before her. She possessed, in Gullivers words,
infinite wit and humour. She seemed earnest in her concern about
Gullivers welfare. When her court dwarf insulted him, she gave the dwarf
away to another household as punishment. The queen seemed genuinely
considerate, asking Gulliver whether he would consent to live at court
instead of simply taking him in as a pet and inquiring into the reasons for his
cold good-byes with the farmer. She was a simply a pleasant, powerful
person. The interaction between Gulliver hinted that Gulliver was capable of
emotional connections.
The queen, who often used to hear me talk of my sea-vogayes, and took all
occasions to divert me when I was melancholy (II.v)
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The King, Queen, and all the court, sent every day to enquire after my
health, and her majesty made me several visits during my sickness (II.v)
The king: He was the king of Brobdingnag, who, in contrast to the emperor
of Lilliput, seemed to be a true intellectual, well versed in political science
among other disciplines.
his apprehension was so clear, and his judgement so exact, that he made
very wise reflections and observations upon all I said. (II.iii)
the king was delighted in music () and a prince of excellent
understanding (II.vi)
While his wife had an intimate, friendly relationship with Gulliver, the kings
relation to him was limited to serious discussions about the history and
institutions of Gullivers native land. He was thus a figure of rational thought
who somewhat prefigured the Houyhnhnms.
The conversation was not ended under five audiences, each of several
hours, and the king heard the whole with great attention, frequently taking
notes of what I spoke, as well as memorandums of several questions he
intended to ask me (II.vi)
he was perfectly astonished with the historical account I gave him of our
affairs during the last century (II.vi)
the king, although he be as learned a person as any in his dominions, and
had been educated in the study of philosophy and particularly
mathematics (II.iii)
He confined the knowledge of governing within very narrow bounds, to
common sense and reason, to justice and lenity, to the speedy
determination of civil and criminal causes (II.vi)
Laputans: They were absentminded intellectuals who lived on the floating
island of Laputa, met by Gulliver on his 3rd voyage. They were parodies of
theoreticians, who had scant regard for any practical results of their own
research. They are bad reasoners, and vehemently given to opposition
unless when they happen to b of the right opinion, which is seldom their
case (III.i)
They were indeed excellent in two sciences (mathematics and music) for
which I had great steem, and wherein I am not unversed (III.iv)
They were so absorbed in their own thoughts that they must be shaken out
of their meditations by special servants called flappers, who shake rattles in
their ears. Their garments were adorned with the figures of suns, moons and
starts. During Gullivers stay among them, they did not mistreat him, but
dismissed him as intellectually deficient. They worried about abstract
matters like comets and the course of the sun. These people are under
continual disquietudes, never enjoying a minutes peace of mind; and their
disturbances proceed from causes which very little affect the rest of
mortals. Their apprehensions arise from several changes they dread in the
celestial bodies (III.ii) they can neither sleep quietly in their beds, nor
have any relish for the common pleasures or amusements of life (III.ii)
They were dependent in their own material needs on the land below them,
Lagado, above which they hover by virtue of a magnetic field, and from

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which they raise up food supplies. The Laputans were a parody of the
excesses of theoretical pursuits and the uselessness of abstract knowledge.
They represented the dangers and limitations of abstract and theoretical
knowledge (III.ii).

Lord Munodi: He was a lord of Lagado, capital of the land beneath Laputa,
who hosted Gulliver and gave him a tour of the country on the 3rd voyage.
Munodi was a rare example of practical-minded intelligence in Lagado,
where the applied sciences were impractical, and in Laputa, where no one
even considered practicality a virtue. He served as an objective-minded
contrast to the theoretical delusions of the other inhabitants of Laputa and
Lagado. He played the role of showing the possibility of individual dissent
within a brainwashed community. While the inhabitants of Lagado pursued
their attempts to extract sunbeams from cucumbers and to eliminate all
verbs and adjectives from their language, Munodi was a rare example of
practical intelligence. Having tried unsuccessfully to convince his fellows of
their misguided public policies, he had given up and was content to practice
what he preached on his own estates. Munodi was also a counterexample to
the contemptuous treatment that the other Laputians and Lagadans showed
Gulliver. He took his guest on a tour of the kingdom, explained the
advantages of his own estates without boasting, and was, in general, a
figure of great common sense and humanity amid theoretical delusions and
impractical fantasizing. He was similar to Gulliver, though Gulliver was
unaware of his alienation while Munodi suffered from his.
Yahoos: They were unkempt humanlike beasts who lived in servitude to the
Houyhnhnms. They were detestable species that infected the Houyhnhnms
countryside and metropolis. They seemed to belong to various ethnic
groups, since there were blond Yahoos as well as dark-haired and redheaded
ones. The men were characterized by their hairy bodies and the women by
their low-hanging breasts. They were naked, filthy, and very primitive in
their eating habits. They were not capable of government, and thus they
were kept as servants to the Houyhnhnms, pulling their carriages and
performing manual tasks. They repelled Gulliver with their sexual appetites,
especially when an 11-year-old Yahoo girl attempted to rape Gulliver as he
was bathing naked. Despite Gullivers revulsion for these disgusting
creatures, he ended his writings referring to himself as a Yahoo, just as the
Houyhnhnms did as they evicted him from their realm. The Yahoos
represented all that was bestial and low in human behavior. They were
brutish, dirty, foul, immoral, and repulsive not only for the Houyhnhnms, but
also for Gulliver, who was constantly struggling for differentiate from them
(I.iv). Despite the fact that European Yahoos looked better than Houyhnhnms
Land Yahoos, with their shaved faces, clipped hair, filed nails, and clothing,
in essential nature they were the same. In fact, both the Master Horse and
Gulliver decide that the Houyhnhnms Land Yahoos were better than
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European Yahoos because they didn't try to hide their vicious natures under
a mask of cleanliness and civilization.
Houyhnhnms: They were rational horses who maintained a simple,
peaceful society governed by reason and truthfulness- they did not even
have a word for lie in their language. They represented reason and virtue.
I was amazed to see much actions and behaviour in brute beasts, and
concluded with myself, that if the inhabitants of this country were endued
with a proportional degree of reason, they must needs be the wisest people
upon earth (IV.i)
They were like ordinary horses, but highly intelligent and deeply wise. They
lived in a sort of socialist republic, with the needs of the community put
before individual desires. They governed their society according to these
principles and as result they had no crimes, shortages, diseases or other
problems. They were the masters of the Yahoos. In all, the Houyhnhnms had
the greatest impact on Gulliver. He was sad for leaving them, not relieved as
he was in leaving the other three lands, and back in England he related
better with his horses than with his human family. The Houyhnhnms thus
were a measure of the extent to which Gulliver had became a humanhater; he was certainly, at the end, a horse lover. He even began to act like
them, and when he was forced to leave the land, he was broken-hearted.
Gullivers Houyhnhnm master: He was the Houyhnhnm who first
discovered Gulliver and took him into his own home. Apart from Gullivers
Yahoo like appearance at first, the master was hesitant to make contact with
him, but Gullivers ability to mimic the Houyhnhnms own words persuaded
the master to protect Gulliver. The masters domestic cleanliness, propriety,
and tranquil reasonableness of speech had an extraordinary impact on
Gulliver. It was through this horse that Gulliver was led to re-evaluate the
differences between humans and beasts and to question humanitys claims
to rationality.
The curiosity and impatience of my master were so great, that he spent
many hours of his leisure to instruct me (IV.iii)
He could not understand why nature should teach us to conceal what
nature had given. That neither himself nor family were ashamed of any
parts of their bodies (IV.i)
as my discourse had increased his abhorrence of the whole species, so he
found it gave him a disturbance in his mind to which he was wholly a
stranger before (IV.v)
here, my master interposing, said it was a pity that creatures endowed
with such prodigious abilities of mind as these lawyers, () were not rather
encouranged to be instructors of others in wisdom and knowledge (IV.v)
Don Pedro de Mendez: He was the Portuguese captain who took Gulliver
back to Europe after he was forced to leave the land of the Houyhnhnms.
Don Pedro was benevolent and generous, offering Gulliver his own best suit
of clothes to replace the tatters he was wearing. But Gulliver met his
generosity with repulsion, as he could not bear the company of Yahoos. By
the end, Don Pedro had won over Gulliver to the extent that he was able to

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have a conversation with him, but the captains overall Yahoo like nature in
Gullivers eyes alienated him from Gulliver to the very end. He treated
Gulliver with great patience, tenderness and he never judged Gulliver,
despite Gullivers abominably antisocial behaviour. Don Pedro showed the
same generosity and understanding that Gullivers Houyhnhnm master
earlier showed him, but ironically Gulliver still considered Don Pedro a
repulsive Yahoo. Don Pedro was thus the touchstone through which we see
that Gulliver was no longer a reliable and objective observer on the reality
he saw but, rather, an observer of a reality coloured by private delusions.
Mary Burton Gulliver: She was Gullivers wife, who was mentioned in the
first paragraphs. That showed how unsentimental and unemotional Gulliver
was. He made no reference to any affection for his wife and never thought
about Mary on his travels and never felt guilty about his lack of attention to
her. When he returned to England, she was merely one part of his existence,
and he recorded no emotion even as she hugged him wildly. The most
important facts about her in Gullivers mind were her social origin and the
income she generated. It suggested that despite Gullivers curiosity about
new lands and exotic races, he was indifferent to people closest to him. His
lack of interest in his wife spoke about his underdeveloped inner life.
Gulliver was a man of skill and knowledge in certain practical matters, but
he was disadvantaged in self-reflection, personal interactions, and perhaps
overall wisdom.
Richard Sympson: He was Gullivers cousin, self-proclaimed intimate
friend, and the editor and publisher of Gullivers Travels. He was the fictional
author of the first note entitled The Publisher to the Readers, where he
justified his elimination of nearly half of the original manuscript material
that was irrelevant, a statement that Swift included to doubt Gullivers
overall wisdom and ability to distinguish between important facts and trivial
details.
James Bates: He was an eminent London surgeon under whom Gulliver
served as an apprentice after graduating from Cambridge. Bates helped get
Gulliver his first job as a ships surgeon and then offered to set up a practice
with him. After Batess death, Gulliver had trouble maintaining the business,
a failure that casted doubt on his competence, though he himself has other
explanations for the businesss failure.
Abraham Pannell: He was the commander of the ship on which Gulliver
first sailed, the Swallow. Travelling to the Levant, or the eastern
Mediterranean, and beyond, Gulliver spent three and a half years on
Pannells ship. Virtually nothing was mentioned about Pannell, which
heightens our sense that Gullivers fascination with exotic types was not
matched by any interest in his fellow countrymen.
William Prichard: He was the master of the Antelope, the ship on which
Gulliver embarked for the South Seas at the outset of his first journey, in
1699. When the Antelope sunk, Gulliver was washed ashore on Lilliput. No
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details were given about the personality of Prichard, and he was not
important in Gullivers life. That Gulliver took pains to name him accurately
reinforced our impression that he was obsessive about facts but not always
reliable in assessing overall significance.
SETTING:
a. Time setting: The four voyages were set in early eighteen century,
from may 4th, 1966 aproximately to december 5th, 1715. Every
voyage took different times. In the case of Llilliput, time was
considered by the pass of the moons.
b. Place setting: Gulliver made four voyages to different places: the first
one was set in Lilliput, a place were lived tiny people. In the second
voyage, he sailed to Brobdingnag, a place inhabited by giants. On his
third voyage he sailed to a flouting island named Laputa, where he
also visited Balbibarni, Glubbdubdrib, Luggnagg, Japan. Finally, his
last voyage was to Houyhnhnm Land, a place inhabited by horses that
possessed reason and humanlike beasts well-known as Yahoos.
England was named at the end of each voyage, considered as the
initial and ending point.
c. Theological setting: In the case of the lilliput, they believed in
doctrines. One of them talked about the correct manner of breaking
eggs. Regarding the different perspectives, there was a conflict with
Blescufu. Blescufu accused us of making a schism in religion, by
offending against a fundamental doctrine of our great prophet
Lustrog, in the 54th chapter of the Brundrecal (which is their alcoran)
(I.iv). In lilliput, they buried their dead with their heads direclty
downwars because hey hold an opinion, thatn in eleven thousand
moons they are all to rise again, in which period the earth (which they
considered to be flat) will turn upside down, and by this means they
shall, at their resurrection, be found ready standing their feet (I.vi)
In Brognadingan, one of the custom of the queen and king was to dine
on Wednesday, when was their Sabbath)
d. Sociological setting: Every place visited by Gulliver had different
societies:
In Lilliput, the emperor was the head. With him, there was a court,
and some ambassadors. Gulliver here was named a Nardac, which
was the highest title of honour among them. In Blescufu, there was en
Emperor also. In the case of Brodganginan, Gulliver met the King and
Queen. He used to dine with the Queen but the two princesses royal,
the elder sixteen years old, and the younger at that time thirteen and
a month. In the case of the floating island Laputa, Gulliver ended up
in the cloud over the society, in which the king lived. There, he found
many island, one of them called Lagado where spirits lived, in another
island there was people known as Strulgburns (people who are
immortal), flappers (people who talked in another peoples ear). At
the end, in the last voyage he met horses with reason, who were
governed by a Master.
STYLE
a. STYLISTIC VARIATIONS:
The Use of METAPHORS:
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The different people that Gulliver visited represented different aspects of

humanity.
Gulliver represented a middle-class Englishman who was decent and wellintentioned. Due to his travels, he became less tolerant and more
judgmental of the nations he visited and of his fellow human beings.
The Lilliputians, a tiny race of people, were physically and morally smaller
than Gulliver. They were self-important, self-serving, hypocritical, dangerous
and cruel in spite of their small size. Lilliput partly represented England.
Swift made the Lilliputians tiny in order to puncture the self-importance of
the English nation and of humankind. For example, though the Lilliputians
were proud of their military, Swift had them parade their army beneath
Gulliver's legs in full view of his nether regions. This was a ridiculous image
which undermines the Lilliputian pretensions to greatness.
The Brobdingnagians, the race of giants, were physically and morally bigger
than Gulliver. The Brobdingnagian king was shocked at Gulliver's account of
English politics and society, and refused his offer of gunpowder as he could
not conceive of any good coming from it. However, the great size of the
Brobingnagians meant that Gulliver could never feel safe or equal in their
society; they treated him kindly while they also treated him as a plaything.
This aspect represented the importance of physical size and power and draw
attention to the relative nature of power: while Gulliver was large and
potentially powerful in Lilliput, he was powerless in Brobdingnag. This was a
warning to nations (England) that the arrival of a larger or more powerful
force can easily put an end to their dominance on the world stage.
The Laputans represented the dangers and limitations of abstract and
theoretical knowledge. This field was growing in dominance in Swift's time,
under the influence of the Enlightenment. At Swifts time, most of the
experiments and theories showed at Laputa's Lagado Academy, as
extracting sunbeams from cucumbers, had been proposed by the scientists
of the Royal Society of London for the Improving of Natural Knowledge, (a
society founded in 1660, then, at 2006 named the Royal Society). The
Laputan people's addiction to abstract knowledge made them oblivious to
each other and to all human concerns. That made them require the custom
of "flappers" to alert them to listen or speak, and meant that their
unimpressed wives had adulterous relationships under their noses. The fact
that the King of Laputa inhabited an island that floated above his domain
was symbolic of his ungrounded thinking and his separation from his people
and their practical concerns.
The Houyhnhnms represented reason and virtue and as a result, they had
no crime, shortages, disease, or other problems. They subjugate their own
individual lives and concerns to the good of their society as a whole. They
had no distinguishing characteristics or names, and they did not seem to
possess an emotional life. While they represented the rational faculty that
man possesses, they did not seem fully human. This suggested that Swift
did not intend their nation to be seen as a complete and self-contained
model for an ideal human society. Rather, their way of life exemplified much
that was admirable and that may be emulated by human beings.
The humanoid Yahoos represented all that was bestial, low, and despicable
in human behaviour. Gulliver was ashamed to recognize the similarities

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between them and human beings, including himself. They were greedy,
violent, dirty, avaricious, and destructive of themselves and others. An
important distinction was drawn: human beings had reason while Yahoos
were not. The conclusion was that humans were worse than Yahoos, since
humans (unlike Yahoos) had the ability to choose good or evil, and
frequently choose evil. The Yahoos were therefore not identical to humans,
but symbolized humans at their worst.
Don Pedro de Mendez represented the ideal human being, possessing the
best qualities of the Houyhnhnms but also being emotionally warmer and
more of an individual than they. He helped Gulliver re-adapt to human
society. It was significant that Swift made him a member of a Catholic nation
at a time when England defined its friends and enemies by whether they
shared the Protestant religion. Swift showed that such positive human
qualities as kindness and charity transcend politics.
ALLUSION:
--Aristotle (2.3.6): () a determination exactly agregable to the modern
philosophy of Europe, whose professors, disdainig the old evasin of occult
causes, whereby the followers of Aristotle endevour in vain to disguise their
ignirance.
--Demosthenes and Cicero (2.6.6): Imagine with thyself, courteous reader,
how often I then wished fot the tongue of Demosthenes or Cicero.
--Lucius Junius Brutus, Socrates, Epanimodas, Cato the younger, Sir Tomas
More (3.7.10): I had the honour to have much conversation with Brutus,
and was told that his ancestor Juniusm Socrates, Epanimodas, Caro the
younger, Sit Tomas More, and himself were perpetually together ().
--Homer, Didymus, Eustathius, John Duns Scouts, Ramus (a.k.a. Pierre de la
Rame) (3.8.1)
--Ren Descartes, Pierre Gassendi, Epicurus (3.8.2)
--Polydore Virgil (3.8.4): once it came what Polydore Virgil says of a certain
new house ()
--Plato and Socrates (4.8.9) Wherein he agreed entirely with the sentiments
of Socrates, as Plato delivers them ()
--Alexander the Great (3.7.7): I desired to see Alexander the Great ()
--Hannibal (3.7.8) Next I see Hannibal passing the Alps ()
--Pompey the Great (3.7.9) I saw Caesar and Pompey at the end of their
tropos, just ready to engage.
--The Spartans, Heliogabalus, Agesilaus (3.8.3): I prevailed on the Governor
to call up Eliogabaluss cooks (). A helot of Agesialaus made us a dish of
Spartan broth, but I was not able to get down a second spoonful.
--The Battle of Actium, Mark Anthony, Augustus, Publicola, Aggripa (3.8.9)
--Charles V of France (4.3.2) The emperor Charles V made almost the same
observation, when he said that if he were to speak to his horse it should be
in High Dutch
--The Glorious Revolution that began the reign of William and Mary in 1689
("Revolution under the Prince of Orange") and The War of Spanish
Succession ("the long war with France") (4.5.2)
--Hernn (Ferdinando) Cortz (4.12.6): But I doubt whether our conquests
in the countries I treat of, would be easy as those of Ferdinando Cortez over
the naked Americans.

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SIMILES:
That at last I descended to treat him like an animal which had some little
portion of reason.
() one of them, an officer in the Guards, put the sharp end of his half-pike
a good way up into my left nostril, which tickled my nose like a straw, and
make me sneeze violently. (I.i)
The kings smiths conveyed fourcore and eleven chains like those that
hang to a ladys watch in Europe (). (I.i)
The country appeared like a continued garden, and the inclosed fields
resembled so many beds of flowers.(I.i)
I viewed the town on my left hand, which looked like the painted scene of a
city in the theatre. (I.i)
Every letter was almost half as large as the palm of our hands (I.ii)
He appeared as tall as an ordinary spire steeple (talking about one
inhabitant of Brobdignan) (II.i)
Also an Hyperbole: but the noise was so high in the air that at first I
certainly thought it was thunder (II.i)
He spoke often to me, but the sound of his voice pierced my ears like that
of water-mill, yet his words were articulate enough (II.i)
I heard a noise behind me like that of a dozen stocking-weavers at work;
and turning at my head, I found it proceeded from the purring of this
animal (II.i)
I could not forbear laughing very heartily, for his eyes appeared like the full
moon shining into a chamber at two windows (II.ii)
For it was almost as large as a small pumpion (II.ii) talking about an school
boy.
She put a bit of bread into her mouth as big as two twelve-penny loaves
(II.iii)
These insects were as large as partridges (II.iii) talking about flies.
The monkey was seen by hundreds in the court, sitting upon the ridge of a
building, holding me like a baby in one of his fore-paws (II.v)
And as for that mostruous animal with whom I was so lately engaged (it
was indeed as large as an elephant) (II.v) relating to the monkey.
I delivered in a firm tone, like a person who was jealous lest his courage
should be called in question (II.v)
The razor was almost twice as long as an ordinary scythe (II.vi)
I wanted to walk about the streets and fields without fear of being trod to
death like a frog or a young puppy (II.viii)
With an intent to let it fall on a rock like a tortoise in a shell (II.viii)
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When I spoke in that country, it was like a man talking in the street to
another looking out from the top of the steeple, unless when I was placed on
a table, or held in a persons hand (II.viii)
I bent down to go in (like a goose under a gate) for fear of striking my
head (II.viii)
They have beards like goats (IV.i) talking about yahoos.
They climbed high trees as nimbly as a squirrel (IV.i) talking about yahoos

Writing Style: Parodic, Absurd

The book included lots of parodic language at the level of the paragraph. For
example, when Gulliver discusses Laputa's loadstone (3.3): By means
of this loadstone, the island is made to rise and fall, and move from one
place to another. For, with respect to that part of the earth over which
the monarch presides, the stone is endued at one of its sides with an
attractive power, and at the other with a repulsive. Upon placing the
magnet erect, with its attracting end towards the earth, the island
descends; but when the repelling extremity points downwards, the
island mounts directly upwards. When the position of the stone is
oblique, the motion of the island is so too: for in this magnet, the forces
always act in lines parallel to its direction. (3.3.5)
Clearly, Gulliver was using the formal mathematical and scientific
language of his day with all of this stuff about parallelism, attraction,
and repulsion. But it's clearly an imitation- Swift imitated different kinds
of jargon and technical writing to show that the weakness of mankind
isn't just limited to politics and morals; we write pretty badly, too.
The style of Gulliver's Travels was also absurd. Consider the Lilliputian
soldiers' curiosity about Gulliver's penis size or the bizarre Luggnaggian
assassination method of licking the poisoned floor in front of their King.
Gulliver spent a lot of time dwelling on apparently minor digressions,
such as how he arranged to pee when he was kept inside a giant's home
during his first night in Brobdingnag.
b. TONE:
Swift used language and style for the purpose of satire. Scattered among
the standard narrative style of most of Gullivers travels were legal
documents and reports, such as the inventory of Gullivers possessions and
the list of obligations presented to him by the Lilliputians. There were also
brief passages in which Swift, by his style alone, ridicules the linguistic
excesses of various specialists: An example was at the beginning of Part II.i,
where Gulliver used complicated nautical jargon. The effect was that,
instead of coming off as a demonstration of Gullivers deep knowledge of
sailing, the passage worked as a satire of sailing language and of any kind of
specialist jargon. A similar passage occured in Part III.iii, where Gullivers
description of the geometry of Laputa served as a satire of philosophical

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jargon.
Gullivers tone was gullible and nave during the first three voyages; in the
fourth, it turned cynical and bitter. The intention of the author was satirical
and biting throughout. He was an active narrator: He talked directly to the
readers.
But, there were several changes in Swifts style. In the first two voyages, the
style was constant: it was a relatively lighthearted but still biting satire of
European culture and politics, framed as an adventure among dwarves and
giants. In the third voyage, the tone changed. Gulliver became less of a
personality and more of an abstract observer. His judgments of the societies
he encountered became more direct and unmediated, and the overall
narrative became less of an adventure and more of a scattered satire on
abstract thought. In the fourth voyage, the tone became, for the most part,
much more serious than in the first three adventures. Gulliver too was more
serious, and his change in personality was reflected in a style that was
darker and more cynical.
c.STRUCTURE: The story was presented chronologically. the story was
divided into 4 parts, each one having among 7 and 12 chapters. Each part
represented one journey including the set off and return to England.
d.USE OF SYMBOLS:
Lilliputians: They symbolized humankinds wildly excessive pride in its own
puny existence. Swift represented the tiniest race as the most
vainglorious and smug, both collectively and individually. There
was more backbiting and conspiracy in Lilliput than anywhere else,
and more of the pettiness of small minds who imagined themselves
to be grand. Gulliver was a nave consumer of the Lilliputians
grandiose imaginings: he was flattered by the attention of their
royal family and cowed by their threats of punishment, forgetting
that they had no real physical power over him. The Lilliputians
showed off not only to Gulliver but to themselves as well. There
was no mention of armies proudly marching in any of the other
societies Gulliver visited- only in Lilliput and neighbouring Blefuscu
were the six-inch inhabitants possessed of the need to show off
their patriotic glories with such displays. When the Lilliputian
emperor requested that Gulliver served as a kind of makeshift Arch
of Triumph for the troops to pass under, it was a pathetic reminder
that their grand parade was supremely silly, a basically absurd way
to boost the collective ego of the nation. Indeed, the war with
Blefuscu was itself an absurdity springing from wounded vanity,
since the cause was not a material concern like disputed territory
but, rather, the proper interpretation of scripture by the emperors
forebears which led to a disagreement. All in all, the Lilliputians
symbolized human pride, and pointed out Gullivers inability to
diagnose it correctly.
Brobdingnagians: They symbolized the private, personal, and physical
side of humans when examined up close and in great detail. They
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overlooked the routines of everyday life and the tedious little facts
of existence, sometimes as matters of life and death. Gulliver was
forced to pay great attention to little things as the fly buzzing
around his head. He was forced to take the domestic sphere
seriously as well. In other lands it was difficult for Gulliver to get
glimpses of family relations or private affairs, but in Brobdingnag
he was treated as a doll or a plaything, and thus was made privy to
the urination of housemaids and the sexual lives of women. The
Brobdingnagians did not symbolize a solely negative human
characteristic, as the Laputans do. They were not merely
ridiculous- some aspects of them were disgusting, like their
gigantic stench and the excrement left by their insects, but others
were noble, like the queens goodwill toward Gulliver and the kings
views of politics. The Brobdingnagians symbolized a dimension of
human existence visible at close range, under close scrutiny.
Laputans: They represented the theoretical knowledge that had no relation
to human life and no use in the actual world. Laputa symbolized
the absurdity of knowledge that had never been tested or applied,
the ludicrous side of Enlightenment intellectualism. Even down
below in Balnibarbi, where the local academy was more inclined to
practical application, knowledge was not made socially useful.
Indeed, theoretical knowledge there had proven positively
disastrous, resulting in the ruin of agriculture and architecture and
the impoverishment of the population. Even up above, the pursuit
of theoretical understanding had not improved the lot of the
Laputans. They had few material worries, dependent as they were
upon the Balnibarbians below. But they were tormented by worries
about the trajectories of comets and other astronomical
speculations: their theories had not made them wise, but neurotic
and disagreeable. The Laputans did not symbolize reason itself but
rather the pursuit of a form of knowledge that was not directly
related to the improvement of human life.
Houyhnhnms: They represented an ideal of rational existence, a life
governed by sense and moderation. They rejected light
entertainment and vain displays of luxury, and appealed to reason
rather than any holy writings as the criterion for proper action, and
their communal approach to family planning. As in Platos ideal
community, the Houyhnhnms had no need to lie nor any word for
lying. They did not use force but only strong exhortation. Their
subjugation of the Yahoos appeared more necessary than cruel and
perhaps the best way to deal with an unfortunate blot on their
otherwise ideal society. The Houyhnhnms seemed like model
citizens, and Gullivers intense grief when he was forced to leave
them suggested that they had made an impact on him greater than
that of any other society he had visited. His meeting with Don
Pedro, implied that he strongly identifies with the Houyhnhnms.
They had no names in the narrative nor any need for names, since
they were virtually interchangeable, with little individual identity.

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Their lives seemed harmonious and happy, although quite lacking

in vigour, challenge, and excitement. Swift may be hinting that the
Houyhnhnms should not be considered human ideals at all. In any
case, they symbolized a standard of rational existence.
England: It seemed to symbolize deficiency or insufficiency, at least in the
financial sense that matters most to Gulliver. England was named
at the beginning as the starting point to be left quickly behind.
Gulliver seemed to have very few nationalistic or patriotic feelings
about England, and he rarely mentioned his homeland on his
travels. England was where Gullivers wife and family live, but they
were hardly mentioned. Gulliver returned home after each of his
four journeys, so that England was kept constantly in the picture
and given a steady, unspoken importance. By the end of the fourth
journey, England was brought more explicitly when Gulliver, in his
neurotic state, started confusing Houyhnhnmland with his
homeland, referring to Englishmen as Yahoos. The possibility thus
arose that all the races Gulliver met could be versions of the
English and that his travels merely allow him to see various
aspects of human nature more clearly.
e.POINT OF VIEW
Gulliver spoke in the first person. He described other characters and actions
as they appeared to him.

FINAL EVALUATION
Jonathan Swift was a critical poet, but also a citizen concerned about his
own condition as a human being. His constant comparisons between the
different lands Gulliver visited and some European countries gave a frame of
Swifts tenets. By minimizing the importance of Gulliver as a specific person,
Swift put the focus on the social satire itself. At the same time, Gulliver
himself became more and more a subject of satire. At the beginning, he was
a standard issue European adventurer; by the end, he had become a
misanthrope who rejected human society. It was in the 4th voyage that
Gulliver became more than simply a pair of eyes through which we saw a
series of unusual societies. He was, instead, an adventurer who had seen
human follies- particularly that of pride- at their most extreme, and as a
result had descended into what looked like, and probably was, a kind of
madness.
Gulliver changed as the story progressed: He was more calm and less
restless at the end of the story than he was at the beginning. In desiring first
to stay with the Houyhnhnms, then to find an island on which he could live
in exile, Gulliver showed that his adventures had taught him that a simple
life, one without the complexities and weaknesses of human society, may be
best. His calm was superficial- lying not far below the surface was a deep
distaste for humanity that was aroused as soon as the crew of Don Pedro de
Mendez captured him. Gulliver underwent several interesting
transformations: from the nave Englishman to the experienced but still
open-minded world traveller of the first two voyages; then to the island21
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hopper of the 3rd voyage; and finally to the cynical, disillusioned, and
insane man of the 4th voyage.
The satire Swift employed to point the flaws of human being could be
considered as a master piece. Every Country Gulliver visited, were just like
the opposite of the previous one: Lilliput and Blefuscu symbolized the
smallness and insignificance between England and France. This was why
Swift pictured its inhabitant as small creatures of five or six inches. The fact
that they were at war for arguing on how one should break an egg, shows a
way in which the author was simbolizing how men can go to war for such an
insignificant matter. On the other hand, Brobdingnagians were giants, noble
and pacific beings governed by a sense of justice. In the third part made fun
at airy and abstract thinking. The Laputans in the larger context of Gullivers
journeys, a parody of the excesses of theoretical pursuits and the
uselessness of purely abstract knowledge. And the 4th and final part, set in
Houyhnhnm Land, which showed us the contrast between Houyhnhnms and
Yahoos.
Gulliver learnt to hate humanity for its weakness and sinfulness.
This was especially clearer in the last part. Gulliver informed us that he had
just began to permit his wife to eat dinner with him. He has been home for
five years, and he had just overcome his hatred of people enough to let his
wife sit at the dinner table with him as long as she stays at the far end.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sources used:
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www.sparknotes.com/gullivertravels

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Gutirrez Leandro