Satire In Lilliput
Generations of schoolchildren raised on the first Book of "Gulliver's
Travels" have loved it as a delightful visit to a fantasy kingdom full of
creatures they can relate to_little creatures, like themselves. Few casual
readers look deeply enough to recognize the satire just below the surface.
But Jonathan Swift was one of the great satirists of his or any other age,
and "Gulliver's Travels" is surely the apex of his art.
"Gulliver's Travels" tells the story of Lemuel Gulliver, a ship's surgeon
who has a number of rather extraordinary adventures, comprising four
sections or "Books." In Book I, his ship is blown off course and Gulliver
is shipwrecked. He wakes up flat on his back on the ...
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us to the essential conflict of Book I:
the naive, ordinary, but compassionate "Everyman" at the mercy of an army
of people with "small minds". Because they are technologically adept,
Gulliver does not yet see how small-minded the Lilliputians are.
In Chapter II, the Emperor of Lilliput arrives to take a look at the
"giant", and Gulliver is equally impressed by the Emperor and his courtiers.
They are handsome and richly dressed, and the Emperor attempts to speak to
Gulliver civilly (although they are unable to understand one another). The
Emperor decrees that every morning Gulliver is to be delivered "six beeves,
forty sheep, and other victuals," along with as much bread and wine as he
needs, his basic needs are to be attended to, and six scholars are to teach
Gulliver the language of his new compatriots.
Again, in this chapter, Gulliver is won over by the fact that the
Lilliputians are well-dressed and articulate (despite the fact that they
speak a language he cannot ...
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snippet of colored thread, which they wear on their
clothing with great pride. Gulliver delights the Emperor by inventing some
new forms of entertainment, also; one involves making the calvary perform
military maneuvers on the drum-taut surface of his handkerchief, stretched
above the ground, but when a rider is thrown, Gulliver stops the game. At
the end of this chapter, Gulliver is freed after agreeing to nine silly
conditions.
Chapter III is where it really gets interesting. Look at the types of
entertainment the Lilliputians engage in, and why they do so. Swift makes a
point of telling us that the only people who perform the rope dance are
people seeking to acquire or maintain a high ...
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Satire In Lilliput. (2008, May 3). Retrieved November 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Satire-In-Lilliput/83064
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"Satire In Lilliput." Essayworld.com. May 3, 2008. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Satire-In-Lilliput/83064.
"Satire In Lilliput." Essayworld.com. May 3, 2008. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Satire-In-Lilliput/83064.
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