Literature Analysis: Gulliver's Travels

1.)  Gulliver's Travels, written by Jonathan Swift, is a Four Part satirical adventure novel narrated by the main character Lemuel Gulliver.  The novel begins at sea.  Gulliver's business as a professional surgeon failed and now he is off at sea.  A storm hits and he is shipwrecked on a tiny island here he is held captive by a native people the size of his index finger.  These people, the Lilliputians, feed Gulliver and are very hospitable.  After being caught in a war between the natives on this island Gulliver fixes a bought and leaves.  He intends to reach England.

             After staying shortly in England with his family, Gulliver sets sail again to an island of giants, known as the Brobdingnagians.  He quickly meets the royal family and court which are delighted by him.  He is very entertaining to them for he is so tiny and musical to them. During his stay he becomes very disgusted by them for their flaws are magnified due to their gargantuan size.  Towards the end of his stay here, Gulliver, while caged, is caught by an eagle and taken off the island.  He lands in the ocean where he sets sail yet again.

            Next, Gulliver lands on a floating island called Laputa.  This island is full of intelligent, academic people called Theoreticians.  These people oppress the people of the island they float above called, Balnibarbi.  After this he goes to Glubbdubdrib where he witness the recreation of historical heros which he finds rather boring and unimpressive.  He then visits the Luggnaggians and the Struldbrugs after which, he is then able to travel to Japan where he finds a way to get back to England.


             Finally, in this fourth part of the novel, Gulliver sets out again, this time as captain.  Eventually his crew over throws him and lands on a land where horses with rational powers of thought, Houyhnhnms, rule over dumb, brutish humans called Yahoos.  Gulliver finds himself amidst the culture and society of the Houyhnhnms.  So much so, he learns their language and converses his travels with them.  However, the horses realize he looks just like a Yahoo and banishes him from their court.  Thus, Gulliver builds a canoe and leaves.  While at sea, he is discovered by a Portuguese ship.  They take him aboard and back home.

2.)  The theme and purpose of Gulliver's Travels, is to satirize the social and political relationships resulting from England's colonization of the time period.  At the end of the novel Gulliver states that all of the lands he traveled to were by right, England's.  However, they appeared entirely unrelated to England on all matters and thus Gulliver questions the very ideology of Colonialism and Imperialism.

3.)  The tone of Gulliver's Travels, is exacting and formal in an exaggerated way.

"Imagine with thy self, courteous reader, how often I then wished for the tongue of Demosthenes or Circeo, that might have enabled me to celebrate the praise of my own dear native country, in a style equal to its merits and felicity."

"I then spoke at large upon the constitution of an English Parliament, partly made up of an illustrious body called the House of Peers, persons of the noblest blood, and of the most ancient and ample patrimonies."

"They were indeed, excellent in two sciences for which I have great esteem, and wherein I am not unversed: but, at the same time, so abstracted and involved in speculation, that I never met with such disagreeable companions."

4.)  Syntax:  The syntax of the novel dramatically adds to the overall formality of the tone.

"During our journey, he made me observe the several methods used by farmers, in managing their lands; which to me, were wholly unaccountable: for, except in some very few places, I could not discover one ear of corn, or blade of grass."

Diction:  In the following quotes, Gulliver's view and attitude on the town he is in greatly changes.  As a reader, this is detected by Swift's choice of words.

"I never knew a soil so unhappily cultivated, housed so ill contrived and so ruinous, or a people whose countenances and habit, expressed so much misery and want."

Gulliver has a poor attitude on the town based on what he has seen so far.  Watch how it changes as he sees different evidence.

"But, in three hours of traveling, the scene was wholly altered; we came into a most beautiful country; farmers houses at small distances, neatly built, the fields enclosed, containing vine-yards, corn-grounds and meadows: neither do I remember to have seen a more delightful prospect."

His attitude (tone) is entirely different.  This is evident in the diction.  You might also note that the syntax in this above quote also helps add to the tone; diction and syntax, go hand in hand through out the novel.

Symbolism/Analogy:  All of the people that Gulliver meets (Brobdingnagians, Houyhnhnms, Laputans, and, Lilliputians) are analogies of different colonial, political, and social relationships brought on by the imperialism of England.  In addition to being analogies, these peoples are also symbols for different aspects of human existence: vainglory, minute and puny in scope of the world, private/personal life, idealism, rationalism, and ignorance.

Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels...