Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)
Gulliver's
Travels (1726)
Things to Consider:
- Satire
- Irony
- Political/Historical
Parallels
- Court Machinations
Terms to Know:
- Lilliputians (975)
- Brobdingnagians (975)
- Laputans (975)
- Houyhnhnms (975)
- Yahoos (975)
Discussion Questions (See Part
Two 
and Part Four ):
976-77:
- Summarize Gulliver's
complaints in the opening letter.
978-79:
- Explain the Publisher's note
to the Reader.
Part
One:
981-83:
- Describe Gulliver's initial interaction with the
Lilliputians.
991:
- Explain the significance of the rope-dancers.
994-95:
- Explain the conditions under which Gulliver achieves
his liberty.
997:
- What is the nature of the war between Lilliput and
Blefuscu?
- What is the historical symbolism of this conflict?
1004:
- Why is ingratitude considered a capital crime?
1009:
- Explain the articles of impeachment against Gulliver
and their historical parallels.
1013-16:
- How is Gulliver able to return home?
Other Discussion Questions:
971:
- Describe Swift's religious
affiliation.
- Why did Swift switch from the
Whigs to the Tories in 1710?
972:
- In what ways, according to
the editors, can Swift be considered a misanthrope? Explain.
973:
- In what ways, according to
the editors, is Swift's poetry "unpoetic"?
975:
- Explain: "The travels,
like a fairy story, transport us to imaginary worlds thst
function with a perfect fantastic logic different from our
own"(975).
- Explain: "Swift exercises our
sense of vision. But beyond that, he exercises our perceptions
of meaning" (975).
979-80:
- Where does Gulliver make what fortune he has?
981-83:
- What is the effect of his use of authentic
Lilliputian terms and expressions?
985:
- Explain: "I had been for some hours extremely pressed
by the necessities of nature" (985).
- Why is Swift being so frank in his descriptions?
986:
986-87:
- Explain Gulliver's treatment of the six men who have
shot arrows at him.
987:
- Describe the different possible courses of action the
court considers for their treatment of Gulliver.
989:
- How many of the items discussed by the Lilliputians
can you identify? What are they describing?
991:
- What might the cushion represent? Explain.
992:
- Explain the significance of the blue, red, and green
threads.
993:
- Why does the Emperor order his army to march under
Gulliver's spread legs?
997:
- Who do the Tramecksan and Slamecksan represent?
998-99:
- How does Gulliver defeat the Blefuscudians?
1000:
- How does the Emperor respond to the victory?
- Explain: "Of so little weight are the greatest
services to princes, when put into the balance with a
refusal to gratify their passions" (1000).
- Why does Gulliver interact on such friendly terms
with the ambassadors from Blefuscu?
1001-2:
- Explain the problems associated with Gulliver's
saving of the burning palace.
1003:
- Explain the Lilliputian laws regarding informers.
- Why is fraud considered a greater crime than theft by
the Lilliputians?
- Explain the images of Justice found in Lilliputian
courts of judicature.
1004-5:
- Explain the Lilliputian system of education.
1011:
- What punishment is ultimately resolved upon for
Gulliver?
- Explain the discussion of the Emperor's lenity.
1012:
- Why does Gulliver go to visit Blefuscu?
1016:
- How long does he stay there? Why?
Part
Two:
Discussion Questions:
1017:
- Why does Swift's crew leave
the island without him?
1019:
- Explain: "[N]othing is great
or little otherwise than by comparison" (1019).
1021-22:
- Why is Gulliver so disgusted
by the sight of the sight of the mistress's breast? What does
this experience lead him to conclude about English women?
1031:
- What is the source of Gulliver's conflict with the
Queen's dwarf?
1037:
- Describe Gulliver's interaction with the
Maids of Honor. (By the way, is their title at all ironic?
Explain.)
1043:
- How does Gulliver describe the government of
England?
1045-46:
- What final conclusions does
the King draw about England?
1050ff:
- Why is Gulliver eager to
escape Brobdingnag? How is he able to do so?
1054-55:
- Why does Gulliver express reluctance to
write his story?
1056:
- Describe Gulliver's response to seeing his
family again.
Other Discussion Questions:
1017:
- Why is Swift providing so
many technical terms on this page?
1019:
- Explain: "[H]uman creatures
are observed to be more savage and cruel in proportion to
their bulk" (1019).
- Describe Gulliver's initial
interactions with the Brobdingnagians.
1021:
- Describe Gulliver's interaction with the
master's son.
1023:
- Describe Gulliver's interaction with the
rats.
- Why, again, must Gulliver describe his difficulties
going to the bathroom?
1024:
- What do Grildrig and Glumdalclitch mean?
1025:
- Why is Gulliver taken into town on the
next market day?
1026:
- What does Gulliver do in
Lorbrulgrud? What is the significance of this city's name?
1027:
- Why is Gulliver so pleased to be purchased
by the Queen? Why is Glumdalclitch happy?
1028-29:
- How does the King view Gulliver?
1029:
1030-31:
- In what ways is the King's
consideration of England "contemptuous"?
1032:
- Describe the insects Gulliver encounters.
1034:
- Describe Gulliver's interaction with the
beggars.
1039:
- Explain Gulliver's interaction with the
monkey.
- Explain the King's response
to Gulliver's
professions of bravery regarding the monkey.
1044-45:
- How insightful are the King's
questions in response to Gulliver's description?
- Why doesn't Gulliver include his responses to
the King's questions?
1046:
- Explain: "I artfully eluded
many of his questions, and gave to every point a more
favorable turn by many degrees than the strictness of truth
would allow" (1046). What exactly is Gulliver saying about his own
country?
1047:
- Why is Gulliver so disappointed that the
King does not accept his offer to teach him the secrets of
gunpowder?
1048:
- What is the significance of
their laws' containing no more than twenty-two words?
1049:
- What does it mean to draw
"lectures in morality . . . from the quarrels we raise with
nature" (1049)?
- What three causes of war have
existed in Brobdingnang?
Part Four:
1074:
- Why is Gulliver so disgusted
to learn what a Yahoo is?
1077:
- How does Gulliver compare to
the Yahoos?
1085:
- What conclusion does his
master draw from Gulliver's discussion of war?
1090-91:
- How has his interaction with
the Houyhnhnms
changed Gulliver's perception of humans?
1092:
- What similarities does
Gulliver's master draw between the Yahoos of his country and
those of Gulliver's?
1103:
- Why must Gulliver leave the Houyhnhnms?
1110:
- What is Gulliver's stated
purpose in writing of his travels?
1111:
- Explain: "I never suffer a
word to pass that may look like a reflection, or possibly give
the least offense" (1111). How accurate is Gulliver's
self-assessment here?
1112:
- Explain Gulliver's view of
British colonial practices.
1113:
- What one quality in Yahoos is
Gulliver least able to endure? Explain.
Other Discussion Questions:
1070:
- Why does Gulliver's crew
revolt?
- Why do they set him ashore?
1071:
1072:
1076:
- Why is Gulliver so
self-conscious about his description of his diet?
1078:
- What is the etymological
meaning of "Houyhnhnm"?
- Why does his master have
difficulty understanding the concept of clothing?
1080:
- Why do the Houyhnhnms have difficulty
understanding the concept of lying?
1081-82:
- Why does his master consider
Yahoos to have bodies ill-suited for the possession of reason?
1082:
- Explain the discussion of
crime and vice.
1083-84:
- Explain the causes of war
that Gulliver discusses.
1084:
- Explain the "honorable"
practices of soldiers as described by Gulliver.
1085-86:
- How does Gulliver describe
lawyers?
1087:
- How does money provide an
Englishman with "his choice of the most beautiful females"
(1087)?
- Explain: "[T]his whole globe
of earth must be at least three times gone round, before one
of our better female Yahoos could get her breakfast, or a cup
to put it in" (1087). Is Gulliver bragging here?
Explain.
1087-88:
- How does Gulliver describe
the effects of alcohol?
1088:
- How does Gulliver describe
the presence and effects of disease?
- What are vomits, purges, and
clysters? What medical purpose do they serve?
1089:
- How does Gulliver describe
ministers of the state?
- How, according to Gulliver,
does one become chief minister?
- What is an Act of Indemnity?
1090:
- What, according to Gulliver,
"are the true marks of noble blood" (1090)?
1090-91:
- What conclusion about humans
does Gulliver's master reach?
- Explain: "[R]eason alone is
sufficient to govern a rational creature" (1091).
1092:
- Why do the Yahoos tend
to hate each other?
1093:
- Describe the cure for Hnea Yahoo.
- Describe the role of the
attendant to the ruling Yahoo.
1095:
- Why, according to Gulliver,
are Yahoos unteachable?
- Why are red-haired Yahoos
more libidinous and mischievous?
1096:
- What conclusions does
Gulliver draw after a female Yahoo accosts him while he swims?
- Explain the importance of
reason to the Houyhnhnms.
1097:
- Explain the Houyhnhnm view of children.
- Explain the Houyhnhnm view of marriage.
- Explain the Houyhnhnm system of education.
1098:
- Identify the subject of the
chief debate among the
Houyhnhnms. What issues are involved in this debate?
1099:
- What course of action does
Gulliver's master propose regarding the Yahoos?
1100:
1102:
- What are the principle
subjects of Houyhnhnm
discourse?
1103:
- How does Gulliver come to
view his fellow humans?
1104:
- How does Gulliver respond to
the news?
1105:
- What plan does Gulliver
develop upon his departure?
1106-7:
- Descrive Gulliver's
adventures in New Holland.
- Describe Gulliver's
interaction with the Portuguese.
1109:
- How does Gulliver respond to
his reunion with his family?
- Why does Gulliver purchase
two horses?
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