Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.29 AVERAGE
3.29 AVERAGE
Gulliver’s Travels was an amusing satirical travelogue to read through, but you wouldn’t enjoy this book if you aren’t very into social or political topics. To really enjoy the book you have to notice the references to today’s social and politic issues. He mentions issues from the real world like the effect that comes with physical and knowledgeable ability on an individual’s power and the effect that an extremely rational government has compared to one with many irrational complexities. Gulliver has 4 main experiences. The first two parts are coupled together showing through Gulliver’s perspective what it is like to have a high status socially and then what it is like to live a life as almost an object with no status at all. The first part of the last half of the book mocks a society that focus merely on pointless scientific inventions and the very last part of the book mocks a rational society through portraying the effects it has on Gulliver when he returns to the real world.
The first literary device I noticed while reading was through the use of the egg. Swift was able to portray how perspective is very important to coming to a conclusion. The reason swift made the Lilliputians go to war with the Blefuscus was because the way they cracked their eggs. He was able to reference the real world by making the small men and women symbolize actual people in the real world. In the moment for the Lilliputians and Blefuscus, it seems to them like what they are fighting for is the most important thing there is but on the outside the issues seems silly. The use of the egg was a major point that swift was using to send a message to the author that how one views a certain issue is more important than the issue itself.
Another main literary devices that Swift used was through the names of the different species he encountered. There were many complicated and hard to remember names in the book such as the Lilliputians, Brobdingnagians, Laputans, and Houyhnhnms. He mentions early in the novel of his mastery in several different languages. On the surface this could be the explanation as to why he is able to learn how to communicate with the different species he encounters but this could also play into the reason of why he is so knowledgeable when it comes to the many different perspectives that are mentioned. The way I liked see it was that each of the different locations the unorthodox species he encountered were actual real world places where he traveled to and met these different people and he used their different attributes to write the novel.
The first literary device I noticed while reading was through the use of the egg. Swift was able to portray how perspective is very important to coming to a conclusion. The reason swift made the Lilliputians go to war with the Blefuscus was because the way they cracked their eggs. He was able to reference the real world by making the small men and women symbolize actual people in the real world. In the moment for the Lilliputians and Blefuscus, it seems to them like what they are fighting for is the most important thing there is but on the outside the issues seems silly. The use of the egg was a major point that swift was using to send a message to the author that how one views a certain issue is more important than the issue itself.
Another main literary devices that Swift used was through the names of the different species he encountered. There were many complicated and hard to remember names in the book such as the Lilliputians, Brobdingnagians, Laputans, and Houyhnhnms. He mentions early in the novel of his mastery in several different languages. On the surface this could be the explanation as to why he is able to learn how to communicate with the different species he encounters but this could also play into the reason of why he is so knowledgeable when it comes to the many different perspectives that are mentioned. The way I liked see it was that each of the different locations the unorthodox species he encountered were actual real world places where he traveled to and met these different people and he used their different attributes to write the novel.
Gulliver’s Travels was an amusing satirical travelogue to read through, but you wouldn’t enjoy this book if you aren’t very into social or political topics. To really enjoy the book you have to notice the references to today’s social and politic issues. He mentions issues from the real world like the effect that comes with physical and knowledgeable ability on an individual’s power and the effect that an extremely rational government has compared to one with many irrational complexities. Gulliver has 4 main experiences. The first two parts are coupled together showing through Gulliver’s perspective what it is like to have a high status socially and then what it is like to live a life as almost an object with no status at all. The first part of the last half of the book mocks a society that focus merely on pointless scientific inventions and the very last part of the book mocks a rational society through portraying the effects it has on Gulliver when he returns to the real world.
The first literary device I noticed while reading was through the use of the egg. Swift was able to portray how perspective is very important to coming to a conclusion. The reason swift made the Lilliputians go to war with the Blefuscus was because the way they cracked their eggs. He was able to reference the real world by making the small men and women symbolize actual people in the real world. In the moment for the Lilliputians and Blefuscus, it seems to them like what they are fighting for is the most important thing there is but on the outside the issues seems silly. The use of the egg was a major point that swift was using to send a message to the author that how one views a certain issue is more important than the issue itself.
Another main literary devices that Swift used was through the names of the different species he encountered. There were many complicated and hard to remember names in the book such as the Lilliputians, Brobdingnagians, Laputans, and Houyhnhnms. He mentions early in the novel of his mastery in several different languages. On the surface this could be the explanation as to why he is able to learn how to communicate with the different species he encounters but this could also play into the reason of why he is so knowledgeable when it comes to the many different perspectives that are mentioned. The way I liked see it was that each of the different locations the unorthodox species he encountered were actual real world places where he traveled to and met these different people and he used their different attributes to write the novel.
The first literary device I noticed while reading was through the use of the egg. Swift was able to portray how perspective is very important to coming to a conclusion. The reason swift made the Lilliputians go to war with the Blefuscus was because the way they cracked their eggs. He was able to reference the real world by making the small men and women symbolize actual people in the real world. In the moment for the Lilliputians and Blefuscus, it seems to them like what they are fighting for is the most important thing there is but on the outside the issues seems silly. The use of the egg was a major point that swift was using to send a message to the author that how one views a certain issue is more important than the issue itself.
Another main literary devices that Swift used was through the names of the different species he encountered. There were many complicated and hard to remember names in the book such as the Lilliputians, Brobdingnagians, Laputans, and Houyhnhnms. He mentions early in the novel of his mastery in several different languages. On the surface this could be the explanation as to why he is able to learn how to communicate with the different species he encounters but this could also play into the reason of why he is so knowledgeable when it comes to the many different perspectives that are mentioned. The way I liked see it was that each of the different locations the unorthodox species he encountered were actual real world places where he traveled to and met these different people and he used their different attributes to write the novel.
Who helped Gulliver get to Luggnapp? Two ship pilots!
"On the 21st of April, 1708, we sailed into the river of Clumegnig, which is a seaport town, at the south–east point of Luggnagg. We cast anchor within a league of the town, and made a signal for a pilot. Two of them came on board in less than half an hour, by whom we were guided between certain shoals and rocks, which are very dangerous in the passage, to a large basin, where a fleet may ride in safety within a cable's length of the town–wall."
"On the 21st of April, 1708, we sailed into the river of Clumegnig, which is a seaport town, at the south–east point of Luggnagg. We cast anchor within a league of the town, and made a signal for a pilot. Two of them came on board in less than half an hour, by whom we were guided between certain shoals and rocks, which are very dangerous in the passage, to a large basin, where a fleet may ride in safety within a cable's length of the town–wall."
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The Movie of the Book Club I run at my library is going to see this New Year's Eve, so I reread it. I last read it when I was a serious English Literature undergrad. I expected to be bored to tears, but it wasn't too bad. I'm sure it was much funnier when it was first published. I doubt the movie will have much in common with it besides the main character's name and the image of him tied down by the Lilliputians.
One word of caution about Project Gutenberg! I had downloaded two versions and read one. When I finished, I was sure I remembered parts that weren't in there. I searched the other version and there they were. It ended up I had read a censored version for middle schoolers with all the (extremely mild) "naughty bits" removed (probably the passages that would interest a middle schooler most!). The only way I found this out was by reading the introduction, which I had skipped. So be careful when you are browsing Project Gutenberg!
One word of caution about Project Gutenberg! I had downloaded two versions and read one. When I finished, I was sure I remembered parts that weren't in there. I searched the other version and there they were. It ended up I had read a censored version for middle schoolers with all the (extremely mild) "naughty bits" removed (probably the passages that would interest a middle schooler most!). The only way I found this out was by reading the introduction, which I had skipped. So be careful when you are browsing Project Gutenberg!
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Some four decades ago I have read obviously only shortened version that usually gets served as children's literature, therefore I was familiar with only first and the most popular chapter (A Voyage to Lilliput) but actually there is so much more to "Gulliver's Travels" than diminutive Lilliputians. Much has been made about Jonathan Swift's literary attack on various forms of than-current authorities and what it all means, was he poking fun at the church or government, crown or parliament but in all honesty it don't really matter 300 years later - what we can clearly see is that he is turning reality completely topsy turvy and gleefully chuckling to himself created fantastic world where horses talk, ministers deserve their positions by dancing on the rope, petitioners are commanded to crawl on their bellies and lick the floor in front of the throne and such.
The obvious explanation of Gulliver's timeless appeal is that the novel can be read, explained, poked, probed and analyzed from many different perspectives. It can be enjoyed as a children's story - specially the first chapter with Gulliver saving the royal castle by pissing on it - or you can see it as a sharp satire and criticism of society that he lived in. You can see it also as a either clever variation on both Marco Polo and Robinson Crusoe or as a forerunner or later widely popular novels by Jules Verne. Myself, I am tempted to see it as Swift's own version of ancient tale of Sinbad the Sailor (Odysseus?) that only on a surface describes main hero's amazing adventures but actually talks about human character and ridiculousness of our principles.
After Lilliput, Gulliver is shipwrecked time and time again (mirroring Robinson Crusoe which surely influenced him) first to the land of giants (Brobdingnag) where he becomes treasured entertainment for royal ladies ("The handsomest among these maids of honour, a pleasant frolicsome girl of sixteen, would sometimes set me astride upon one of her nipples, with many other tricks, wherein the reader will excuse me for not being over particular"), than to the flying island Laputa where scientists spend their lifetimes studying the most ridiculous and pointless experiments and after many sideways & byways, he ends in the country of Houyhnhnms where horses are wise and humanoids (named Yahoos) are dangerous and ignorant. It is novel of almost ridiculously fantastic imagination, literary equivalent of paintings by Hieronymus Bosch and deservedly considered a classic, however from time to time it shows his age much more than Robinson Crusoe because Swift too often feels compelled to moralize and compare various fantastic kingdoms to what he have left at home in England - but the heart of the novel is sharp, witty and so uniquely eccentric that it is no wonder that it survived for 300 years.
The obvious explanation of Gulliver's timeless appeal is that the novel can be read, explained, poked, probed and analyzed from many different perspectives. It can be enjoyed as a children's story - specially the first chapter with Gulliver saving the royal castle by pissing on it - or you can see it as a sharp satire and criticism of society that he lived in. You can see it also as a either clever variation on both Marco Polo and Robinson Crusoe or as a forerunner or later widely popular novels by Jules Verne. Myself, I am tempted to see it as Swift's own version of ancient tale of Sinbad the Sailor (Odysseus?) that only on a surface describes main hero's amazing adventures but actually talks about human character and ridiculousness of our principles.
After Lilliput, Gulliver is shipwrecked time and time again (mirroring Robinson Crusoe which surely influenced him) first to the land of giants (Brobdingnag) where he becomes treasured entertainment for royal ladies ("The handsomest among these maids of honour, a pleasant frolicsome girl of sixteen, would sometimes set me astride upon one of her nipples, with many other tricks, wherein the reader will excuse me for not being over particular"), than to the flying island Laputa where scientists spend their lifetimes studying the most ridiculous and pointless experiments and after many sideways & byways, he ends in the country of Houyhnhnms where horses are wise and humanoids (named Yahoos) are dangerous and ignorant. It is novel of almost ridiculously fantastic imagination, literary equivalent of paintings by Hieronymus Bosch and deservedly considered a classic, however from time to time it shows his age much more than Robinson Crusoe because Swift too often feels compelled to moralize and compare various fantastic kingdoms to what he have left at home in England - but the heart of the novel is sharp, witty and so uniquely eccentric that it is no wonder that it survived for 300 years.
adventurous
funny
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
adventurous
funny
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No