Gulliver's Travels: Where Size Doesn't Matter

1662 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The use of satire by swift in gullivers travels

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.

Right at the beginning of the novel, in the first voyage, corruption is rewarded. Gulliver buys into the Lilliputians' extravagant imaginings because he is frightened by their threats of punishment. Their issue of a formal conviction for sedition is surprisingly rewarded, given their lack of any significant physical prowess over him. As the novel advances, Gulliver changes through the events in his journeys: when he is a giant in Lilliput, he is concerned about stepping on the Lilliputians and crushing them. In the land of Brobdingnag, however, he is the one at risk of being crushed, and is treated more like a toy than a human being. To the end of the book Lemuel Gulliver is changing: on the last voyage he becomes so fond of the Houyhnhnms that his once great desire to return to humankind completely vanishes.

Dystopia and utopia are substantia...

... middle of paper ...

...g by Patrick Galloway. Shirley Galloway, 1994. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. .

Kukreja, Ridhi. "Book: Gullivers Travels." Book Review: Gullivers Travels-Jonathan Swift. 2009. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. .

Parkin-Speer, Diane. "The Genres Of Gulliver's Travels (Book Review)." Utopian Studies 2.1/2 (1991): 266. Advanced Placement Source. Web. 23 Feb. 2012.

Lindberg, John. "Gulliver's Travels (Book Review)." Utopian Studies 1.2 (1990): 167. Advanced Placement Source. Web. 22 Feb. 2012.

Hart, Vaughan. "Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift (Book Review)." Utopian Studies 9.2 (1998): 250. Advanced Placement Source. Web. 22 Feb. 2012.

"Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels." Kirkus Reviews 79.21 (2011): 2026. Advanced Placement Source. Web. 22 Feb. 2012.

Show More
Related

  • Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels

    4236 Words  | 9 Pages

    ...lity for what it is but also gives me motivation to either make the world a better place. Through his writings he gives us a choice that I feel is vital and has the abilities to distinguishes his readers from good and evil, the just and unjust. This is a form of writing in relation to all societies that I have never seen before and I feel that it is vital for all to read Gulliver's Travels so that they can look within themselves and see who they are as individuals. Overall, it is my opinion that Jonathan Swifts works on Gulliver's Travels exemplifies a true literary masterpiece. It gives us a true description of society and how we as individuals interact with on another. It tells us of our "corrupt lawyers, politicians, avaricious doctors, mass slaughters in wars over trivial pretexts-aspects of our experience as well as of Gulliver's and reminders that this narrative Gulliver's and his experiences implicates the reader in the moral problem of how to judge-and perhaps how to change-society. In all there is a lot to learn from these writing and tell us a lot about society and how we as individuals need to gain a better understanding our ourselves as well as society as a whole.

    Read More

  • Lamuel Gulliver

    804 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jonathan Swift is one of the best known satirists in the history of literature. When one reads his works, especially something like Gulliver’s Travels, it is easy for one to spot the misanthropic themes, which emerge within his characterization. Lamuel Gulliver is an excellent protagonist: a keen observer, and a good representative of his native England, but one who loses faith in mankind as his story progresses. He ends up in remote areas of the world all by accidents in his voyages. In each trip, he is shipwrecked and mysteriously arrives to lands never before seen by men. This forms an interesting rhythm in the novel: as Gulliver is given more and more responsibility, he tends to be less and less in control.

    Read More

  • Second Earl Of Rochester

    2537 Words  | 6 Pages

    ...llivers Travels not only excite the attention of the reader but they also leave the reader with a very pessimistic impression of the modern world. If Gulliver had left a description of a pile of soil instead of his urination procedure, the reader would perhaps view his work as boring, but not as comedic or repulsive. The tales would have lost their derogatory tone, their satirical edge, and their comedic nature had Swift not used such images.

    Read More

  • Free Gulliver's Travels Essays: Hypocrisy in Government Exposed

    2962 Words  | 6 Pages

    Corruption of political systems in one of the primary themes in Gulliver's Travels. This corruption is a result of selfishness as well as the inability to see things from any other perspective rather than one’s own.

    Read More

  • Utopia In Gulliver's Travels

    771 Words  | 2 Pages

    In his travels, Gulliver found that other societies were better than European societies, especially that of the Houyhnhnm’s. Gulliver admires the Houyhnhnm’s, and believes their virtuous society is better than that of Europe, especially their lack of vices (Swift, 224). This admiration, of other societies has not been seen in the writings of real European explorers but the mythic Hythloday in More’s Utopia expressed it in More’s Utopia. Utopia and the Houyhnhnm’s societies had are similar in that they both express the writers idea of how a better society could be ran and are critiquing European society at the time. Both of these writings focus heavily on the virtues in foreign societies and the abundance of vices in European society. The lack of illness in the Houyhnhnm’s society is another way Swift uses his writings to discuss his frustration with the world (Swift, 231). In multiple societies Gulliver visited he saw cases where doctors were either working to fix illnesses or where there was no illness at all (Swift, 173) (Swift, 231). If Gulliver were to have come across Utopia in his travels he would have described it in a similar way to the way he described the Houyhnhnm’s, with respect and

    Read More

  • Friendship in Oroonoko and Gulliver’s Travels

    1291 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Free College Essays - The Hidden Meaning of Gulliver's Travels

    538 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • English Satire in Gulliver’s Travels

    940 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gulliver’s Travels is a satirical novel about a sailor’s adventures through strange lands; the author of Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift, uses these adventures to satirize the English society. The most prevalent satire is used as Gulliver travels through the lands of Lilliput, Brombdinag, and the Houyhnhnms.

    Read More

  • Changing Perspective in Gulliver’s Travels

    578 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Gulliver learns that experiencing different lifestyles he thought were better than his own actually makes him appreciate his own life with a more meaningful disposition through his journeys to Lilliput, Brobdingnag, and the Country of the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver’s journey to Lilliput effectuated forlorn feelings of his home. Likewise, Gulliver’s trek to Brobdingnag assists in his realization that changing perspectives also alter his attitude towards his homeland. Finally, Gulliver’s expedition to the Country of Houyhnhnms, where horses act civilized on and people act like wild animals. Gulliver soon learns that through his mystical journeys that changing the perspective in which he views the world reverses feelings of gratefulness towards his home. Gulliver’s first journey set sail to the Lilliputians on May 4th, 1699.

    Read More

  • Essay on the Importance of Perspective in Gulliver's Travels

    745 Words  | 2 Pages

    The 'Standard' of the ' Gulliver's Travels. Ed. Paul Turner. World Classics. The World Classics.

    Read More

  • Abuse of power in Gulliver's travels

    1700 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Gullivers Travels

    671 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gulliver’s Travels, written by Jonathan Swift, is the story about Lemuel Gulliver, a man from England trained as a surgeon. Gulliver sets to the seas when his business hits the dumps. The story is told in first person point of view. Gulliver narrates the adventures that take place during his travels. The characters in this story are Lemuel Gulliver, the emperor, the farmer, the farmer’s daughter, the king and queen of Brobdingnag, Lord Munodi, the Yahoos, and the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver is the main character of this story.

    Read More

  • Political Themes in "Gulliver's Travel"

    1257 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Experiences In Gulliver's Travels

    1835 Words  | 4 Pages

    Lemuel Gulliver recounts his findings over four of his most impactful voyages in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. In Gulliver’s Travels, Gulliver gives his own candid account of all significant characters encountered and manages to fall into almost every influential person’s favor. Swift tactically shapes Gulliver’s encounters with characters from varying backgrounds to compare the behavior of the esteemed nobility with the behavior of commoners. Swift has Gulliver alter his demeanor based on his present surroundings to appeal to those around him and maintain his pride. By doing so, Swift intended to didactically explain his contempt for nobility, his misanthropy, and the dangers of pride.

    Read More

  • Political Allegory in Gulliver's Travels

    415 Words  | 1 Pages

    Gulliver's Travels is a great novel written by Jonthan Swift. It is about voyages of Gulliver-main character-to different countries. Gulliver's Travels is a political allegory of England at Swift's time. the word allegory means a simple that can be objects, characters, figures or colors used to represent an abstract idea or concepts. Swift uses this novel to criticize the political condition of England at the 18th century and to make a satire of the royal court of George 1 . Gulliver's Travels has established itself as a classic for young people. Its appeal to young minds is due to the fact that it is, on the surface, an adventure story of strange wonderful lands. As a matter of fact, it is taken by the mature reader as an allegory work of England at Swift's time.

    Read More

More about Gulliver's Travels: Where Size Doesn't Matter

Open Document