Gulliver's Travels by Swift as a Fine Example of Satire

Gulliver's Travels by Swift as a Fine Example of Satire

Gulliver's Travels is a book which uses satire, to attack the politics

of its time. Swift operates on two levels; on one level he tells an

enjoyable fantasy story for all ages. On the second level behind the

superficial narrative he comments upon the issues he faces in the

reality of England and makes criticisms.

The story is set on an island called Lilliput, it is inhabited by

little people and it is this which Swift uses as a base for his views

on the world around him. Lilliput is a mirror image of London in 1726,

and it acts as a blank canvas for Swifts thoughts on reality. It

allows him to create anything, so he manages to create different ways

of criticising London.

The way Swift produces these criticisms of his world is by

transferring the moral into a comical or humorous issue. Swift does

this many times, but he is also using to his advantage as an author.

As he is putting across his views he is also pleasing both his younger

audience and older by covering up the criticisms of the books times

with an exhilarating fantasy story.

An example of his humorous technique is when the inhabitants of

Liliput are shown to select their politicians by seeing who is

superior on a tight rope. The politicians are chosen by seeing who can

jump the highest on a tight rope suspended two feet off the ground:

Five or six of those candidates petition the emperor to entertain his

majesty and the court with a dance on the rope, and whoever jumps the

highest without falling, succeeds in the office

Also another humorous event is the ceremony of breaking an egg with

your head, Swif...

... middle of paper ...

...ingratitude, when

Gulliver defeats an entire fleet he is shown a great deal of

congratulations, but when he extinguishes a fire in the royal palace

by urinating on it the Lilliputians see him as a sort of traitor and

treat him with complete ingratitude and ungratefulness. This is

showing the pure simple mindedness of humans and Swift has created

this with the foundation of size, by using a kind of unrealistic and

humorous base he has created many different forms of putting across

his feelings on modern day culture.

This book shows great depth behind words, it shows that a book can

contain more than it seems and Swift has shown this exceptionally well

with the use of in depth thoughts and satire, with this combination he

has created a superb book. This book backs up the saying

You can't tell a book by its cover.