Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift

It is a remarkable work of Literature. Here we see the mirror image of our society. At first when I read this book before my U.G, I felt that it is for kids. But during my P.G, I got a different insight to see this book. Let’s see something in brief about this text.

Gulliver's Travels is a prose satire by Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift. It is both a satire on human nature and the "travellers' tales" literary subgenre. It is Swift's best known full-length work, and a classic of English literature.

He himself claimed that he wrote Gulliver's Travels "to vex the world rather than divert it”. The book became popular as soon as it was published.

John Gay wrote in a 1726 letter to Swift that "It is universally read, from the cabinet council to the nursery."

This text is divided into 4 parts. Gulliver- the protagonist visits four different lands like Lilliput, Brobdingnag, Laputa and Houyhnhnm.

Each part has its own importance.

The causes of Gulliver's misadventures become more malignant as time goes on—he is first shipwrecked, then abandoned, then attacked by outsiders, then attacked by his own group.

This text deals with the themes like:-

§ MIGHT VERSUS RIGHT

§ THE INDIVIDUAL VERSUS SOCIETY

§ THE LIMITS OF HUMAN UNDERSTANDING

Reference:-

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gulliver/themes.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulliver's_Travels

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Vaidehi Hariyani

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