Swift was dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin when his novel came out.
Since in this book he wrote about and often harpooned-prominent political
figures, he published the book anonymously. While most readers were trying like
mad to find out who the author was. Swift's close friends had fun keeping the
secret. Londonwas stunned with thoughts about the author's identity, as well as
those of some of his characters. Swift's dying years were a torment. He suffered
awful bouts of dizziness, nausea, deafness, and mental incapacity. In fact,
Swift's harshest critics tried to discredit the Travels on the grounds that the
author was mad when he wrote it. But he wasn't. The Travels were published in
1726- and Part IV, which raised the most controversy, was written before Part
III- and Swift didn't enter a mental institution until 1742. He died in 1745.
The Plot Gulliver's Travels is the story about Lemuel Gulliver as he travels to
the strange lands of Lilliput, Brobdingnag, the kingdom of Laputa, and the land
of the Houyhnhnms. In Lilliput people are six inches high, and Gulliver, in
comparison, is a giant, or a "Man-Mountain," as the little people call
him. Gulliver becomes involved with the domestic problems of the Lilliputian
government. The government made to deal with Gulliver. The document outlines the
terms of his freedom. One of these terms is that Gulliver must help the
Lilliputians in their war against Blefuscu . Gulliver steels the enemy's fleet
and takes it across the harbor back to Lilliput. For a short time he's a hero.
But Gulliver intervenes in the peace talks, and gets a more profitable treaty
for the Blefuscudians than they would have had gotten. After that it's downhill
for Gulliver. When he pee's onto a fire at the palace and there by saves the
royal chambers, he is put on trial for disobeying a law prohibiting public
urination. This and some other charges against Gulliver result in a conviction
of high treason, punishable by blinding. Gulliver doesn't feel like having that
done so he escapes to Blefuscu. Part II, which takes place in the land of
Brobdingnag. This time Gulliver is extremely small compared to the giant
Brobdingnagians. After a short time as a working freak. Gulliver is rescued by
the king and queen and lives a life of comfort. He spends much of his time
learning the language and talking with the king about life in England. The king
turns out to be as a fair, merciful ruler and a very sympathetic and humane man.
Gulliver, in comparison seems petty, vindictive, and cruel like the
Lilliputians. One day while on an walk with the king and queen, Gulliver's
box/house is kidnapped by a bird with him inside and dropped in the sea, and is
then recovered by an English ship. Gulliver stays in England a while with his
family then goes back to sea. In Part III, where Gulliver goes to the flying
island of Laputa and some of its colonies nearby. His first stop is Laputa,
where the people have one eye turned inward and one eye turned up to the sky.
They're thinking always of their own thoughts (inward) and of other issues like
mathematics, astronomy and music (upward). They're so focused they need flappers
to hit them self's on the ear to let them know someone is talking to them. The
Laputans are so distracted from everyday life that they're barely aware of their
wives. Because the Laputans are bossy rulers of their colonies, and because they
pay little attention to Gulliver, he gets sick of them and goes on to the island
of Balnibarbi. There Gulliver becomes friendly with Count Munodi, who is the
only one on the island who lives in a nice well-built house and whose lands
yield crops. The other people engaged in scientific research and do everything
according to the most sophisticated way possible. Therefore their houses are in
ruins and their land are the same way. Gulliver visits the Academy of the
Projectors to learn more about them, and witnesses a series of totally useless,
wasteful experiments. In Luggnagg Gulliver meets the Struldbrugs, a race of
people who are immortal. They do not have eternal youth, instead they grow
constantly older more feeble, miserable, and useless. Gulliver returns to
England before again setting sail. In Part IV Gulliver ends up in the land of
the Houyhnhnms pronounced WHIN-nims I think. The Houyhnhnms are horses governed
totally by reason. They have created a society that is perfect, and perfectly
peaceful except for the Yahoos, and exempt from the topsy-turviness of passion.
The Yahoos are humans, but are so cruel that they are human only in appearance.
The Yahoos are kept in a kennel, and are prohibited from having anything to do
with the Houyhnhnms. The Yahoos came to the land by accident. Gulliver tries his
best to become a Houyhnhnm he talks like them, walks like them, tries to think
and act like them. He's in the strange position of being neither a Yahoo nor a
Houyhnhnm he fits nowhere, and because of this he must leave. Gulliver goes mad
in Part IV, and can never adjust himself to other people, whom he considers
Yahoos. Neither can he come to terms with the Yahoo part of himself. Back in
England, he buys horses and spends most of his time in the stable. He can barely
tolerate the presence of his family, and has as little to do with them as
possible. He says that his aim in writing Gulliver's Travels is to correct the
Yahoos. Having been exposed to the Houyhnhnms, he feels he is the man for the
job. CHARACTERS LEMUEL GULLIVER Gulliver is the most important character in this
novel. He's the "author" of the Travels, he's your tour guide. He's
also one of the most provoking characters in English literature. Gulliver's
frustrating to deal with for a number of reasons. 1. He's not steady he changes
with relation to the place he is at. 2. He's often a victim of Swift's irony.
This means that we have to be on guard against what he says. 3. It's impossible
to feel relaxed with Gulliver. 4. Gulliver directs a lot of his hostility toward
the reader which makes you feel hostile toward him. THE LILLIPUTIAN EMPEROR
Swift had no regard for this king, and uses Lilliputian court practices to
criticize the English government. On another level the tiny guy represents
dictatorship, cruelty, lust for power, and corruption. He is a symbol of bad
government. THE LILLIPUTIAN EMPRESS The empress represents Queen Anne, who
blocked Swift's advancement in the Church of England because she was offended by
how he wrote. The empress bears early responsibility for Gulliver's death in
Lilliput.