Gulliver's travels by Jonathan Swift summary and analysis

 

At a glance, Gulliver’s Travels is the story of Lemuel Gulliver and his voyages around the world. Prefaced by two letters attesting to the truth of the tales, the adventures are told by Gulliver after his return home from his final journey.

Gulliver’s Travels is divided into four Parts, each about a different place. Because of this structure, the book as a whole has a very sketchy plot; it feels more like weekly episodes than one long narrative. The book seems more cohesive if readers recognize that each part reflects Gulliver’s character. For example, Part I discusses things being disproportionately small, and Part II discusses things being disproportionately large.

 

Part I:

 A Voyage to Lilliput

Part I, entitled “A Voyage to Lilliput,” is the most famous and celebrated section of Gulliver’s Travels. Enticed by the prospect of adventure and easy money, Lemuel Gulliver signs up as a “surgeon,” or ship’s doctor, for a voyage through the East Indies in Asia. Unfortunately for Gulliver, he is shipwrecked. He swims to an unfamiliar shore and, exhausted by his efforts, goes to sleep. When he awakes, he finds himself tied up by a crowd of extremely tiny and

well-armed people. Gulliver is taken prisoner, shipped to the capital, and presented to the Emperor. Later, Gulliver makes friends with many of the courtiers and learns about the history, society, politics, and economy of Lilliput. For many years, Lilliput has been at war with its sister island Blefuscu over whether to break soft-boiled eggs at the big or little end. This clash parodies the French-English and Catholic-Protestant conflicts of Swift’s time, and many of the characters in this section correspond to actual political figures of the day.

 

Although he aids Lilliput by stealing the Blefuscudian navy, Gulliver is resented by many of the Emperor’s courtiers. He eventually hears of a plot to accuse him of treason and sentence him to be blinded and starved to death. Frightened by this prospect, he swims over to Blefuscu and presents himself as a visitor from the Lilliputian emperor. The Blefuscudian emperor treats him well, even after

a message from Lilliput demands his return. An Englishman-sized rowboat washes up on shore, however, and, taking advantage of the opportunity, Gulliver departs Blefuscu and Lilliput. He is eventually rescued by a passing English ship and returns home to England and his family.

 

 

Part II: 

A Voyage to Brobdingnag

Gulliver is only home two months when he sets out on Part II, “A Voyage to Brobdingnag.” After encountering a terrible storm, Gulliver’s ship puts in to another unfamiliar shore for much-needed food and water. He goes ashore and later discovered that  there are giants living there. Gulliver is captured by a farmer, who displays him as a circus wonder at local fairs. The farmer’s daughter, Glumdalclitch, teaches Gulliver to speak the language and the two become good friends. Eventually, the farmer sells Gulliver to the Queen of Brobdingnag, who allows Glumdalclitch to join the court as Gulliver’s keeper.

 

 

Once at court, Gulliver has a series of violent, physical misadventures because of his size. Once, he is taken into the country and allowed to walk around a meadow. Poor Gulliver has not yet learned the limits of his size in Brobdingnag,

however. As he reports, “There was a Cowdung in the Path, and I must try my Activity by attempting to leap over it. I took a Run, but unfortunately jumped short, and found my self just in the Middle up to my Knees.” Gulliver spends

most of his time discussing history, politics, philosophy, and economics with the King. The King frequently shocks Gulliver by displaying his ignorance. When Gulliver offers to teach him about gunpowder so he can rule over his subjects with force, for example, the King rejects him in horror. In the end, Gulliver is carried off by a giant bird and dropped into the sea, where he is rescued again by an English ship. Eventually he gets used to other English people again and resolves to stay at home for the rest of his life.

 

 

 

Part III: 

A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdrib, Luggnagg, and Japan

As usual, however, Gulliver is unable to keep his resolution. He is tempted by the prospect of easy money yet again and embarks on A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib, and Japan. Gulliver’s misfortunes begin when he and his crew are seized by pirates, who abandon him alone on a deserted island. In despair, Gulliver begins to make the best of his bad lot when

he is astonished to see a giant floating island appear in the sky. The inhabitants carry him up to them and make him welcome on the island, which they call Laputa. The Laputans control a non-floating island named Balnibarbi and live entirely by the rules of science and mathematics: even their bread and meat are carved into geometric shapes. The men are so consumed in thought that they have servants, called flappers, to bring them out of a trance into conversation. Women, who are excluded from these activities and entirely ignored by the men, frequently try to escape to Balnibarbi. After some persuasion, Gulliver is allowed to descend to Balnibarbi, where he witnesses the destructive effects of not enough practical thinking on agriculture, economics, education, and architecture.

 

In the most famous section of Part III, Gulliver visits the Grand Academy, Swift’s parody of London’s Royal Society. There he meets men devoting their lives to absurd experiments such as extracting sunlight from cucumbers and turning human waste into its original components. Gulliver proceeds from Balnibarbi to Luggnagg via the island of Glubbdubdrib. In Luggnagg, Gulliver

hears of a race of people called Struldbruggs, who live forever. Gulliver imagines what he would do if he were a Struldbrugg, but when he meets them he realizes that eternal life does not necessarily mean eternal youth. The Struldbruggs actually have both infinite age and infinite infirmity, and they are miserable, senile (old) people. Disgusted with all he has learned about himself and different ways of thinking, Gulliver sets sail for Japan, where he catches a ship for Amsterdam and returns home.

 

 

Part IV: 

A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms

Gulliver’s last voyage, Part IV, is called “A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms” (pronounced whin-hims). Part IV examines less what humanity creates, such as science or gunpowder or government, and more what humanity is. Appropriately, Gulliver is left on an alien shore by a mutiny. He encounters two types of inhabitants: the rational Houyhnhnms and the vicious, crude Yahoos. The Houyhnhnms are talking horses who have established a society based on reason rather than emotion, while the Yahoos are hairy humanoids who are used by the Houyhnhnms as slaves. As usual, Gulliver learns the language and converses with the inhabitants about society, government, history, and philosophy. The Houyhnhnms do not know deceit, lying, or other vices,

and are governed by reason. Neither, however, do they know fairness or love. Houyhnhnms are restricted to a servant class and the race as a whole has no great attachment for spouses or children. Gulliver comes to admire the Houyhnhnms and dislikes the Yahoos, who really are quite disgusting and violent.

Soon Gulliver is unable to appreciate the difference between humans and Yahoos: “When I thought of my Family, my Friends, my Countrymen, or human Race in general, I considered them as they really were, Yahoos in shape and Disposition, perhaps a little bit more civilized, and qualified with the Gift of Speech; but making no other Use of Reason, than to improve and multiply those Vices.”

 

The Houyhnhnms also have difficulty distinguishing Gulliver from the Yahoos, however. In spite of his best efforts to learn to be like the Houyhnhnms, they eventually find Gulliver too much like a Yahoo and sentence him to exile. Devastated, Gulliver builds a boat and sets sail. Long after his rescue by a Portuguese ship and return home, Gulliver consistently expresses his deep hatred for humanity, whom he calls Yahoos. Part IV concludes with Gulliver very slowly learning to accept his wife, his family, and other humans again, but still full of self-hatred and misanthropy.