Gulliver’s Travels

Historical background
1. One of the historical events that influenced the writing of Swift's novel "Gulliver’s Travels" is the
industrial revolution in England in the ⅩⅤIII century. Tell us more about this event. What were the
reasons? What progress had been made by England?
In Swift’s time, Tories supported the national Anglican church and the divine right of kings to rule—which
also opposed increased power for British parliament. Whigs, on the other hand, sought greater parliamentary
power. George I, king when Swift was writing Gulliver’s Travels, was a Whig supporter who filled
Parliament with his chosen political party. As a Tory supporter, Swift took inspiration from the Tory-Whig
conflict for the high- vs. low-heeled shoe conflict of the Lilliputians.

2. What characterizes the process of colonization of North American lands by England? What are the
features of this process?

The invasion of the North American continent and its peoples began with the Spanish in 1565 at St.
Augustine, Florida. While Native Americans resisted European efforts to amass land and power during this
period, they struggled to do so while also fighting new diseases introduced by European colonization and
Europeans' enslavement and forced transportation of Africans to the Americas.

3. How are the events of the ruin and robbery of India by England connected with the novel?

4. The war between Lilliput and Blefuscu can be seen as a tense relationship between England and
France. Why is there such an opinion? What were the features of the relationship between countries
at that time? And who could the Lilliputian emperor personify in the novel?

Politically, Blefuscu stands for France and Lilliput for England. The war between the two over the religious
question of egg-breaking symbolizes the long series of wars between Catholic France and Protestant
England. The egg-breaking itself may refer to a quarrel over the nature of the sacrament, and it is also
possible that it refers to the differences in communion of the Catholic and Anglican churches. The Anglicans
receive communion by bread and wine; the Roman Catholics receive only bread. The French and English, of
course, also fought over land and loot, but Swift is using the symbolic differences between churches to
emphasize the absurdity of any religious war.

5. What was Jonathan Swift trying to demonstrate in his novel from a historical perspective?
The novel "Gulliver's Travels" is, in fact, the result of Swift's reflections on his life experience, on the era in
which he happened to live, on the existing form of government and the mistakes of this form, and, finally,
on the essence of man. And since in the age of Enlightenment it was customary to consider a person through
the prism of public relations and state order, in Swift's novel a person, first and foremost, acts as a member
of this society.

The novel "Gulliver's Journey", which grew out of Swift's pamphlets on political topics, includes an
incredible number of problems. Here we consider both the state structure of England, with its vices, and the
moral and spiritual appearance of a person as a whole. Jonathan Swift, like his predecessors, criticized the
remnants of the feudal system, but he, as a wise seer, also saw the outrageous shortcomings of the emerging
new bourgeois system. Thus, Swift criticizes the Enlightenment itself as something contrary to human nature
itself.

Discussion of a genre
 1. In what literary direction is the work of Gulliver's Travels written?

The work ridicules personal and social vices. The writer discusses various models of social and state
structure. Defends the ideas of progress and humanism. The genre of the work "Gulliver's Travels" can be
defined as a satirical fantasy novel. The narrative covers a long period of time and includes a large number
of actors. The plot is filled with numerous humorous situations that are aimed at caustic ridicule of human
vices and shortcomings. Also, the work imperceptibly raises important questions about man and his place in
the universe.

2. The main goals of satire in the work "Gulliver's Travels".

Swift develops a very deep thought here. He ridicules people who are obsessed with the mania to change
everything, blind commitment to the new and the desire to destroy the old at any cost, people who stop
halfway and do not complete their undertakings, who are busy with meaningless projects that do not follow
from the requirements of life and to that is absolutely unfeasible. It is necessary to remake what is really
bad, what life requires, and remake based on real grounds and real possibilities.

3. Compositional structure and distinctive feature of the work

The compositional structure of the novel consists of four parts, in the first of which the main character, as a
result of a shipwreck, finds himself in the country of Lilliput, inhabited by little men, the second part tells
about the hero’s journey to the country of Brobdingnag, the population of which are giants, in the third part,
the hero visits the flying city of Laputa , located in the country of Balnibarbi, and the fourth part takes the
hero to the island part, where the inhabitants are the horses of the Houyhnhnms, who have a mind.

A distinctive feature of the novel is the author's illustrations about the diversity, incomprehensibility of the
world and the meaning of the universe, in which humanity manifests all kinds of sins, so the writer offers a
variant in the form of a consistent rejection of ignorant vices.

4. Cultural influence of the work

The words invented by Swift "Lilliput" (English lilliput ) and "Yehu" (English yahoo ) entered many
languages of the world

Critics believe that Voltaire's story Micromegas (1752) was written under the strong influence of Gulliver's
Travels.Swift's motifs are clearly felt in many of the works of HG Wells. For example, in the novel "Mr.
Blettsworthy on Rampole Island", a society of savage cannibals allegorically depicts the evils of modern
civilization. In the novel The Time Machine, two races of the descendants of modern people are bred - the
bestial Morlocks, reminiscent of Yehu, and their sophisticated victims, the Eloi. [15] Wells also has its noble
giants ("Food of the Gods").

According to Swift's scheme, the classic book by Lao She "Notes on a Cat City" was also written. The
civilization of Martian cats bred there is a caustic pamphlet on contemporary Chinese society to the author.
Other notable works using a similar technique include Anatole France's Isle of the Penguins and
Akutagawa's In the Land of the Watermen.

Author discussion
1. Why were Jonathan Swift's poems published anonymously?
2. What was the basis for writing "Gulliver's Journey"?
"I have always hated all nations, professions and all kinds of communities; all my love is directed to
individuals: I hate, for example, the breed of lawyers, but I love a lawyer and a judge; the same applies to
doctors (I won't talk about my own profession), soldiers, Englishmen, Scots, French and other things. But
above all, I hate and despise the animal called man, although I love John, Peter, Thomas, etc. with all my
heart. These are the views that I have been guided by for many years, although I have not expressed them,
and I will continue in the same spirit as long as I deal with people. I have collected materials for a treatise
proving the falsity of the definition of animal rationale, and I will show that man is just a rationis sarah."
Swift claimed that it was this concept of man that underlies his "Gulliver's Travels".
3. What is the main purpose of Swift Jonathan in the book "Gulliver's Travels"?
Swift’s main purpose in Gulliver’s Travels was to illustrate how the English government and society needed
a reformation. As an Irish patriot and a former admirer of the English government and life, Swift now sees
England and all its glory in a very different way.

4. Why did Jonathan Swift write the book "Gulliver's Journey" in the genre of travel and adventure?
Jonathan Swift's intensely popular and oft-studied novel Gulliver's Travels was originally published in 1726.
It was intended as a parody of travel narratives as well as a satirical commentary on the politicians and
government of the time, including King George I.

5. Can Gulliver's Journey be regarded as a political satire? And why?

6. Why does Swift present his main character as an atheist?

Text discussion
B1
1. How the Liliput society reflects English society of the 17-18th century
The Lilliputians in Gulliver’s Travels are comparable with England as Gulliver observes the insignificance
of certain proceedings that appear to become important in politics and society. This portrayal of Lilliput and
their society provides an example on how an English utopia could be realized, most notably in terms of
politics and law.
The Lilliputians and their society appear to a great extent as a tiny and more ridiculous England. The
depiction of the people and the government continue and it becomes evident that even though the
Lilliputians may endure the same impurities of English society, such as a exaggerated government, uprisings
over moderately trivial issues, and an inclination to attempt at controlling more everyday aspects of life. It
is in this sense, that the Lilliputians attain many values and ways of thinking that allow them to become
utopian when compared to England.
2. What was so specific about the royal family of the Liliput kingdom? Characterize the King and
Queen.
The emperor
The ruler of Lilliput. Like all Lilliputians, the emperor is fewer than six inches tall. His power and majesty
impress Gulliver deeply, but to us he appears both laughable and sinister. Because of his tiny size, his belief
that he can control Gulliver seems silly, but his willingness to execute his subjects for minor reasons of
politics or honor gives him a frightening aspect. He is proud of possessing the tallest trees and biggest palace
in the kingdom, but he is also quite hospitable, spending a fortune on his captive’s food. The emperor is both
a satire of the autocratic ruler and a strangely serious portrait of political power.
The queen
The queen of Brobdingnag, who is so delighted by Gulliver’s beauty and charms that she agrees to buy him
from the farmer for 1,000 pieces of gold. Gulliver appreciates her kindness after the hardships he suffers at
the farmer’s and shows his usual fawning love for royalty by kissing the tip of her little finger when
presented before her. She possesses, in Gulliver’s words, “infinite” wit and humor, though this description
may entail a bit of Gulliver’s characteristic flattery of superiors. The queen seems 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 king
The king of Brobdingnag, who, in contrast to the emperor of Lilliput, seems to be a true intellectual, well
versed in political science among other disciplines. While his wife has an intimate, friendly relationship with
the diminutive visitor, the king’s relation to Gulliver is limited to serious discussions about the history and
institutions of Gulliver’s native land. He is thus a figure of rational thought who somewhat prefigures the
Houyhnhnms in Book IVthe farmer. She is by no means a hero, but simply a pleasant, powerful person.

3. Why where people of Liliput and Blefuscu engaged and war. What is symbolic in the subject of their
conflict?
Despite the fact that the history of the conflict between Lilliput and Blefuscu is blatantly ridiculous, Gulliver
reports it with complete seriousness. The more serious the tone, the more laughable this conflict appears.
But Swift expects us to understand immediately that the entire history Gulliver relates parallels European
history exactly, down to the smallest details. The High-Heels and the Low-Heels correspond to the Whigs
and Tories of English politics. Lilliput and Blefuscu represent England and France. The violent conflict
between Big-Endians and Little-Endians represents the Protestant Reformation and the centuries of warfare
between Catholics and Protestants.
By recasting European history as a series of brutal wars over meaningless and arbitrary disagreements, Swift
implies that the differences between Protestants and Catholics, between Whigs and Tories, and between
France and England are as silly and meaningless as how a person chooses to crack an egg.
4. High and low heels conflict, what it symbolizes and how it reflects the GB of this time.
The Lilliputian political scene is bitterly split between the party that wears high heels and those who wear
low heels. This petty feud symbolizes the fractious split in English politics between the Whig and Tory
parties.
The emperor of Lilliput shows favors the low-heel party, which results in an unfair and corrupt society. This
favoritism critiques King George's bias towards the pro-monarchy Tory party. Gulliver falls out of favor
with the Lilliputian monarchy when he urinates on the Royal Palace to extinguish a fire. This is a reference
to Swift's early satirical work A Tale of the Tub (1704), which lampooned the idea of structures of power
and is said to have deeply offended Queen Anne.
5. How you can describe the society of giants and what is the key features of their society.
Gulliver observes the society of the court. The society he observes closely resembles that of England, where
the wealthy often drive in the parks to see and be seen and to gossip with their friends. As in England, the
upper classes in Lilliput spend all their time in pursuing pleasure at the expense of others. Gulliver himself
eats and drinks the equivalent sustenance of 1,724 Lilliputians and requires hundreds more retainers for his
maintenance.
6. Describe the laws of the Brodbingang and how could be called such type of the society. Do you think
it is able to reach this society in our world?
Gulliver visits a school of political philosophy in Balnibarbi, where one of the professors works on a plan
for discovering plots and conspiracies against the government. Gulliver suggests additions to the professor’s
paper based on his own experiences in a country called Tribnia, or Langdon. Gulliver explains the reasons
that people plot against the government and suggests that many of the so-called plots are invented, reflecting
a rather bitter view of society. He views human society as driven by self-interest and corrupted by power.
 7. Why reader still gets unpleasant feeling about the society of giants. How Gulliver implies on this
fact.
Gulliver describes the pinnacle of his happiness—his time living among the noble horses, the Houyhnhnms.
After comparing the Houyhnhnms with the horrid subservient species the Yahoos, or humans, Gulliver
concludes that all human society is evil and to be avoided. Gulliver’s bitter outlook on human society
achieves humor by expanding the list of societal offenses to include every sort of person who has ever done
Gulliver wrong or offended his sense of morality. The inference implies that as human society consists of
human beings, human society is by definition imperfect
8. Why Gulliver was shocked when he finally met ordinary people after his return from the
Brodbingnag
When Gulliver returns to England from Brobdingnag, he encounters “normal” human-sized life but sees
everyone and everything as miniature. He thus misgauges size, misjudges people’s health, and generally
misunderstands his situation until enough time passes for his perspective to adjust. Likewise, Gulliver’s time
spent among the Houyhnhmns enables him to see his own society in a new way. Though he has been eager
to go home after all his prior adventures, he no longer wants to return to England after living amongst the
Houyhnhmns, for he has so internalized their perspective that he sees all human beings as Yahoos. He is
disgusted even by his own reflection and starts affecting the manner of a horse. Though he is, from a
biological standpoint, still fully human, his new perspective has transformed him into a Houyhnhmn and he
can no longer function in human society.
B2
9. Why were all the people on the island are considering themselves as geniuses, and what social class
of England is represented by this people.
10. Describe the society of Balnibarbi and trace the main problem of this type of society.
Gulliver describes the land of Balnibarbi as "a land unhappily cultivated, with houses ill-contrived and
ruinous, and its people’s countenances expressing misery and want". He found its method of farming
"unaccountable".
The exception to this was the estate of his guide, the Lord Munodi, a person of the first rank who had been
governor of Lagado, but had been dismissed for insufficiency by a cabal of ministers. He had been treated
with tenderness by the king, but held in low understanding.] These estates were wholly different to the land
as a whole, being "a most beautiful country, with houses neatly built, fields enclosed, containing vineyards,
corn-grounds and meadows". However Munodi reported that he was under pressure to tear down his house
and tenant farms and rebuild them in the modern manner, or be censured for pride and incur the wrath of his
majesty.
The target of Swift's satire in Balnibarbi is its “Projectors” (who are described as "inventors or planners of
political, social, financial or scientific schemes... which are wild or impractical") rather than science per se,
which is generally commended: He also “aim(s) to discredit the Newtonian Whig intelligentsia...and to
ridicule anything remotely connected to the Dutch”: Higgins reports scholars have identified the Academy
as referring to the Royal Society in London, the Dublin Philosophical Society, and the University of Leiden.
Higgins further states that Swift's satire “describes or is based on actual contemporary experiments reported
(by) the Royal Society”
11. Characterize the episode of resurrection of some historical figures and the summary Gulliver got in
the end of it.
Gulliver learns that the governor of Glubbdubdrib has the power to bring back the dead for the purpose of
serving him. Gulliver is given the option to bring back anyone he would like. He chooses Alexander the
Great, who tells Gulliver that he actually died because he drank too much. He then brings back a parade of
other famous dead.Gulliver spends a great deal of time speaking with various famous dead people. He
speaks with Homer, Aristotle, and Descartes and even gets them into conversation with one another. He later
brings back a few English Yeomen and finds them much larger and stronger than the English people today.
He worries that his countrymen are diminishing with time.
12. Why such superpower as immortality was the greatest catastrophe for the society of Luggnagg?
Like most people, Gulliver assumes that experience brings both wisdom and morality. He voices the human
dream of immortality, sure that immortality will confer immense experience and, therefore, immense
wisdom. Swift counters this naive dream of Gulliver's by presenting the Struldbruggs. It is true that they
have immortality, but they do grow old. They wrinkle — and they degenerate; the physical is a symbol of
the abstract once more. These creatures lack hope, kindness, generosity, affection, simplicity, honesty, and
innocence.
B3
13. What symbolizes the society of Houyhnhms and why the main figures in this society are presented
by horses?
Swift defines Houyhnhnm as meaning "perfection of nature." This definition establishes an important
distinction. The horses are uncorrupted by passion — either base or noble. They are devoid, for example, of
charity. Also, they are not subject to temptation. Swift, however, never suggests that the Houyhnhnms stand
for perfected human nature; on the contrary, they manifest innocent human nature. What they do — and
what they say and think — is akin to human nature, but the character of the Houyhnhnms is far from
Gulliver's. They are ignorant of many things which most people would consider venial. They cannot, for
example, understand lying — or even the necessity for lying.
Swift thus establishes a range, or spectrum, of existence. The horses are literally innocent, having never (in
theological terms) "fallen"; the Yahoos are super-sensual and seem depraved. The Houyhnhnms are ice-cold
reason; the Yahoos are fiery sensuality. In between these extremes is Gulliver.
14. Name the difference between a human and an animal nicknamed "yahu", which resembles a human
in appearance.
G. is a normal, reasonable, morally healthy person whom the author sends on a journey through the world of
madness, absurdity, lies and violence. It is in relation to G. that the human nature: unsightly and disgusting
to any sentient being. G. was looking for a place in the crazy world where a worthy person could find peace.
And Swift brings his hero to the utopian country of the Guingngnms, but he himself returns him back to
England, because in a crazy world a society based on reasonable principles cannot exist. And this means that
G. must return home: reasonable horses expel the hero.

G.'s story is the story of a man who tried to change people and their world with the word of truth. As a
result, G. is forced to admit that “yehu are a breed of animals that is not at all capable of correction through
instructions and examples. Now six months have passed since the appearance of my book, and not only do I
not see the end of all kinds of abuses and vices, but I have not heard that my book has produced at least one
action in accordance with my intentions. G. refuses "the absurd idea to reform the Yahoo breed" and finds
consolation only in the stable, in long conversations with his stallions.
15. What did Gulliver like about the way the young Houyhnhnms were brought up?
Like Brobdingnag, Houyhnhnm (pronounced "whinim") Land is completely cut off from other nations – no
one on Houyhnhnm Land has ever visited another country. This kind of isolation appears to be good for
producing relatively virtuous societies. After all, the chief problem Gulliver sees with Lilliput and Laputa –
their tendency to fight and conquer other peoples – isn't really possible on Brobdingnag and Houyhnhnm
Land, where there are no other peoples readily available for conquest
16. Why didn't Gulliver report and submit a memo about the countries he discovered to his king?