Gulliver's Travels

Jonathan Swift

Lemuel Gulliver tells his story of wanderlust and the marvelous countries he visited while travelling. His travels took place in the early 1700's when England was discovering and claiming lands around the world. Yet Gulliver did not try to claim the lands he discovered for Mother England.

Gulliver visits Lilliput, where the residents are only about six inches tall. His next journey takes him to Brobdingnag, where the residents are about sixty feet tall. In each of these places he is an oddity because of his size. His ship is overtaken by pirates on his next trip and he is rescued by the people on Laputa, an island that floats in the air above the world. On his last expedition he winds up shipwrecked in Houyhnhnm, a land where the intelligent species looks like our horses. The abridged version of his travels are amazing to anyone young or old.

The unabridged version of this story holds a lot of amusement for any politically savvy adult. Gulliver comments on each country's government and how it is superior to the English and European governments. He uses these countries to highlight all the problems within his own country. His description of lawyers still fits to a tea even today. He saterizes every level of government and human failings.

All too often I found myself tuning out as Gulliver continued to describe his government to another country's leader. Of course that other leader could not understand how anyone could live the way Gulliver depicted. Other times I would be laughing at how well Swift would show ourselves to us. The research school is beyond imagination. I also know why most dramatizations stop after Lilliput and Brobdingnag. Swift uses the last two countries to poke most of his barbs. The travels drag in my opinion when he keeps going on about the govermnments or actions of men. He uses satire like a stick to beat the reader over the head.

There were times I was sick of his (Gulliver's) self righteousness. He was always unfailingly polite (except to a dwarf in the giant land) and would never presume. He would listen to reason among all rulers of lands and try to explain his own countrymen logically. Swift draws Gulliver as extremely proper. By the end of the book Gulliver has withdrawn from society. Society hasn't lost anything by his isolation.

After you've read this book, visit . You'll like the tongue-in-cheek abridged version of this novel you can read in a minute or less. Great humor!