By: Jonathan Swift
1. Gulliver's Travels, by Jonathan Swift, follows Lemuel Gulliver's sea-bound journey among many English colonies after his business goes under. He makes his way to four colonies, the first being Lilliput. This land is colonized by tiny "Lilliputians" who welcome Gulliver with open arms. They treat him as royalty, and see him as a great asset to their province. Some conflicts arise with the emergence of a palace fire, and Gulliver is forced to travel to his new destination, Blefuscu, the Lilliput's enemy. He is only here for a short time, to fix his boat and return to his family in England. He doesn't remain in England long, and after two months, he is of to his next land, this time occupied with giants, Brobdingnag. He is sold to the Queen as some sort of joke, and used for his entertainment value once again. It is an unwelcoming experience for him. The people have no boundaries and are completely ignorant, so fortunately he is carried back to sea. Gulliver, however, hits another bump in the road when he comes across pirates and is forced to make landfall in Laputa. This land is night and day from the last destination. The inhabitants are educated and completely engulfed in their studies. Feeling aloof, he stays on the move, and sets on his fourth and final journey to an unknown land. This time the population consists of houyhnhnms, horses, and yahoos, the human counterparts that rule the horse-like creatures. He wears out his welcome quickly, and the houyhnhnms soon see him as a yahoo, and he is banished. After his reflection on the idea of colonialism and the regions he has encountered, he comes to the conclusion that all of the land belongs to England.
2. The theme in this novel is alienation. He travels to the different provinces of England and the audience gets the feel for the different utopias, and how each land is completely different and unaware of the outside world. For example, in the Brobdingnag land, the people are completely clueless, and treat Gulliver as this amazing tiny, entertaining toy.
3. The tone in Gulliver's Travels is satirical. At first Gulliver has an innocent and candid outlook. He goes on his beginning journeys with hope and curiosity. By his last destination, he has lost respect for the civilizations he has visited, and thinks that they are ignorant and useless. This is satirical to England, and the colonization of English utopias.
- "...that whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put together.”
- "…he leaves me worse than in ignorance, for I am led to believe a thing black when it is white, and short when it is long.”
- "...taller than his brethren by the breadth of a human fingernail.”
- "in observing the manners and dispositions of the people, as well as learning their language; wherein I had a great facility, by the strength of my memory.”
Symbolism: The countries that Gulliver travels to are symbols of the utopianism in England during the eighteenth century. The imaginary lands that Gulliver visits, the Lilliputians, the Brobdingnagians, the Laputans, and the Houyhnhnms all represent the real English colonies.
- "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.”
Foreshadowing: With Gulliver witnessing ignorant societies every place he stops, he is bound to eventually reject the civilization as a whole. This occurs on his fourth, and final journey to the land of the Houyhnhnms.
- "I observe among you some lines of an institution, which, in its original, might have been tolerable, but these half erased, and the rest wholly blurred and blotted by corruptions."
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