Gulliver's Travels by Lemuel Gulliver :-
Gulliver's Travels,
whose full title is Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a
Captain of Several Ships, (1726, amended 1735), is a prose
satire[1][2] by Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift, that is
both a satire on human nature and the "travellers' tales"
literary subgenre. It is Swift's best known full-length work, and a
classic of English literature. He himself claimed that he wrote
Gulliver's Travels "to vex the world rather than divert it".
The book became
popular as soon as it was published. John Gay wrote in a 1726 letter
to Swift that "It is universally read, from the cabinet council
to the nursery.
Gulliver's Travels Summary
Gulliver goes on
four separate voyages in Gulliver's Travels. Each journey is preceded
by a storm. All four voyages bring new perspectives to Gulliver's
life and new opportunities for satirizing the ways of England. Forth part of the novel.
Lilliput
The first voyage is
to Lilliput, where Gulliver is huge and the Lilliputians are small.
At first the Lilliputians seem amiable, but the reader soon sees them
for the ridiculous and petty creatures they are. Gulliver is
convicted of treason for "making water" in the capital
(even though he was putting out a fire and saving countless
lives)--among other "crimes."
Brobdingnag
The second voyage is
to Brobdingnag, a land of Giants where Gulliver seems as small as the
Lilliputians were to him. Gulliver is afraid, but his keepers are
surprisingly gentle. He is humiliated by the King when he is made to
see the difference between how England is and how it ought to be.
Gulliver realizes how revolting he must have seemed to the
Lilliputians.
Laputa
Gulliver's third
voyage is to Laputa (and neighboring Luggnagg and Glubdugdribb). In a
visit to the island of Glubdugdribb, Gulliver is able to call up the
dead and discovers the deceptions of history. In Laputa, the people
are over-thinkers and are ridiculous in other ways. Also, he meets
the Stuldbrugs, a race endowed with immortality. Gulliver discovers
that they are miserable.
Houyhnhnms
His fourth voyage is
to the land of the Houyhnhnms, who are horses endowed with reason.
Their rational, clean, and simple society is contrasted with the
filthiness and brutality of the Yahoos, beasts in human shape.
Gulliver reluctantly comes to recognize their human vices. Gulliver
stays with the Houyhnhnms for several years, becoming completely
enamored with them to the point that he never wants to leave. When he
is told that the time has come for him to leave the island, Gulliver
faints from grief. Upon returning to England, Gulliver feels
disgusted about other humans, including his own family.
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