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Gulliver's Travels

Gulliver's Travels


Although it appears simple and straightforward on the surface, a mere
travelogue intended solely for the amusement of children, Gulliver's Travels, by
Jonathan Swift, proves, upon closer examination, to be a critical and insightful
work satirizing the political and social systems of eighteenth-century England.
Through frequent and successful employment of irony, ambiguity and symbolism,
Swift makes comments addressing such specific topics as current political
controversies as well as such universal concerns as the moral degeneration of
man. While he incorporates them subtly early in the novel, these observations
and criticisms eventually progress to a point where they may shock or offend
even the most unsuspecting reader. In order to witness this evolution of
presentation, one need only observe the development of the work's central
character, Captain Lemuel Gulliver, as Swift has designed his novel in such a
way that, as his aspersions harshen and intensify, so do Gulliver's actions and
attitudes.
For instance, in book one, "A Voyage to Lilliput", when Gulliver finds
himself lost in a world one-twelfth the size of his own, he proves himself to be
quite naive and impressionable. Although he is simply too large to perceive
them in detail, Gulliver judges the country's inhabitants he meets to be as
perfect and innocent as their toylike appearances. He refers to the Lilliputian
emperor, a being not even six inches high, as "His Imperial Majesty" and blindly
agrees to perform any demanded service, even though he could easily overpower
the tiny nation. It is only after his services have been exploited and himself
banished that Gulliver realizes how cruel and deceitful the Lilliputians truly
are and his personality begins to transform.
In book two, "A Voyage to Brobdingnag", Gulliver faces quite an opposite
situation, for in this world everything is twelve times its expected size.
Somewhat hardened by his unfavorable experiences on...