Gulliver’s Travels

Title: Gulliver’s Travels
Author: Jonathan Swift
Major Themes: Fantasy
Synopsis: Captain Gulliver tells about four of his voyages, encountering tiny people, giants, a floating island, and a land ruled by horses.

Gulliver’s Travels was one of those books in the lists of classic stories that I always wanted to read. So almost a year ago, I decided it was high time to read the story and find out for myself why it became such a well-known book. I found it fascinating to try on the 18th-century ways of thinking for size, and although I know there was a lot of satire involved in this story, a lot of the points Swift makes as he tells these crazy tales are still as applicable today as they were when this book was written nearly 300 years ago. And that, I think, is part of the appeal of this story.

Captain Gulliver narrates four of his voyages in this book; each voyage takes up approximately a quarter of the book. The first voyage lands him at Lilliput, where he encounters a civilization made up of tiny people. His second voyage lands him at Brobdingnag, which is a country of giants. His third voyage, to Laputa, brings him in contact with a group of people who are ruled by a king who reigns from a flying island. And his fourth and final voyage puts him with the Houyhnhnms, in a land where horses rule the country. Each voyage—and subsequent calamity that puts him in contact with these different countries—is described in great detail, and as the book goes on, he begins to think more and more critically about his homeland, England, and the vices and virtues he remembered from his time there.

I can’t say as I loved reading Gulliver’s Travels, but many parts of this story were well-done, and not only are entertaining as far as “what-if” is concerned, but also often carry a deeper meaning, as well. For example, consider this quote from his voyage to the land where horses rule. In this scene, Gulliver is describing English pastimes to his master:

“[Wine was imported] because it was a sort of liquid which made us merry by putting us out of our senses, diverted all melancholy thoughts, begat wild extravagant imaginations in the brain, raised our hopes and banished our fears, suspended every office of reason for a time, and deprived us of the use of our limbs, till we fell into a profound sleep; although it must be confessed, that we always awaked sick and dispirited; and that the use of this liquor filled us with diseases which made our lives uncomfortable and short.”
(A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms, chapter 6)

Dickens and Swift have one obvious thing in common—they’re wordy! But what I loved about this quote, and why I laughed out loud when I read it, was that this is exactly what alcohol does to us. When put in perspective like this, it seems rather ridiculous that it could ever be appealing to anyone. Gulliver is simply trying to explain to his master, a horse, why people do the things they do in England, but all he serves to do (and I’m sure that was the intention) is show it for what it really is—foolishness. This sort of dialogue comes up fairly frequently throughout the book, and while it can tend to drag the story down some, I also found it interesting to see what people thought and knew about back in the 1700s.

Overall, Gulliver’s Travels was an entertaining read, and I’m glad I stuck with it and got through it in the end. I doubt I’ll ever read it again, but books like this are wonderful inspirations for writing new stories now. I also think books like this are worth reading, not just for the mental exercise of getting through old English prose, but also because this is the kind of story that has shaped our culture’s thinking and creativity for centuries now. If you enjoy wildly imaginative stories and don’t mind reading at a slower pace at times, I’d recommend this book.

WARNING: Swear, swearing, or swore is used in pt. 1, ch. 3; pt. 2, ch. 8; pt. 3, ch. 1; and pt. 4, ch. 1 (twice); cursed is used in pt. 3, ch. 1, and pt. 4, ch. 3; oath is used in pt. 4, ch. 11 (twice), and there is lying in pt. 1, ch. 7; pt. 2, ch. 5; and pt. 3, ch. 9. In pt. 1, ch. 7, there is a terrible plan described of how a man would be tortured and killed. In pt. 2, ch. 1, a woman’s breast is described; in ch. 5, there is a mention of women stripping a man bare, of a woman setting him on her nipple, and a description of a beheading. In pt. 3, ch. 2, there is a mention of women who took many lovers; in ch. 7, there is a king who could raise from the dead whomever he wished; and in ch. 9, there is a description of a poison a king used to kill people who displeased him. In pt. 4, ch. 5, a man recounts seeing a battle; in ch. 7, there is a disgusting description of what was done to someone who was sick; in ch. 11, a man is shot with an arrow, and later there is a phrase: “…I began to consider that by copulating with one of the Yahoo species I had become a parent of more…”, and he goes on to describe how he found his wife and children repulsive.