Gulliver’s Travels Jonathan Swift When his ship is repeatedly cast ashore in strange lands, a middle-class English doctor observes exotic cultures and reassesses his own beliefs.

Background Type of Work – Satire Setting of Novel (Four Voyages) Lilliput – miniature kingdom modeled on 18 th century Europe, elaborate details, one-twelfth European size. Brobdingnag – enormous kingdom also modeled on Europe, but simplified, not ornate; 12 times European size. Fantastic Exotic Places – futuristic Laputa and Balnibarbi; Oriental Glubbdubdrib and Luggnagg. Houyhnhnmland – primitive land of neat fields; clean, simple cottages; goverened by hourses. Gulliver also travels to Japan, England, and Pourtugal. Time Period – Voyages last 16 years.

Main Character Lemuel Gulliver – ship’s doctor, later captain. He is 39 at the beginning of the travels. He is a middle-class family man, honest, adaptable to unusual circumstances. Tolerant of cultural differences. Good with language, clever with hands, mechanical, scientific. Well educated, curious. Notices details but not perceptive of their meanings. Name suggests “gullible.” Accepts things at face value, uncritical. Throughout the book, blindly patriotic. But with time, grows dissatisfied with traditional values. At end, a complete hater of mankind.

Characters Voyage 1 - Lilliput Emperor of Lilliput – Elegant, royal, equally capable of big- heartedness and cruelty; political, ambitious, dictatorial. Flimnap – Lord High Treasure. Hypocritical, jealous, scheming, ambitious, vengeful.

Characters Voyage 2 - Brobdingnag Farmer – Greedy, insensitive, opportunistic. Glumdalclitch – Farmer’s daughter; Gulliver’s nurse. Gentle, loving, clever, careful, mature for her age. King of Brobdingnag – Simple, kindly, rational.

Characters Voyage 3 – Laputia (Japan) King of Laputa – Ruthless ruler, tyrant. Preoccupied with abstract ideas; hates practical matters. Munodi – Competent, reasonable nobleman; tolerant of his oppressors, who dislike him because he rejects their “scientific” ways. King of Luggnagg – Hospitable, generous to friends; ruthless with enemies.

Characters Voyage 4 – Houyhnhnmland Gray Horse – Gulliver’s master. Rational, kind, unemotional, benevolent, unimaginative. Sorrel Nag – Servant. Kindly, helpful, humble. Loves Gulliver. Don Pedro De Mendez – Ships captain. Tolerant, generous, good- natured, perceptive, forgiving.

Themes Human Condition – Gulliver’s Travels is political satire in the form of an adventure novel. Swift creates several fantasy worlds to which his character, Lemuel Gulliver, travels, and where he learns the English institutions, such as the government and social structure, are not necessarily ideal. Politics Culture Crash Custom and Tradition Science and Technology