FICTION

Chapter - 22

Question- What is the general theme of Gulliver's Travels.

Answer -

Gulliver's Travels is a prose satire of the year 1726. The original title of the book is "Travels into several Remote Nations of the world. In four parts. By Lemyel Gulliver, first a surgeon, and then a captain of several ships.' This classic book was written by the Irish writer and Clergyman Jonathan swift. He satires the human, nature and the literary subgenre of 'traveller's tale'. Swift claimed that he wrote Gulliver's Travels "to vex the world rather than divert it." It is his best known work. The story is full of satire and fantasy. John Gay commented on the book- "It is universally read, from the cabinet council to the nursery." The Gulliver's Travels was a huge success and still continues to be one of the best works of its time. Gulliver's Travels was listed as a "satirical masterpiece" in Robert Mc Crum's 100 best novels in the year 2015. In part one of the novel the voyage to Lilliput is presented. There is a short introduction to the main character Lemuel Gulliver before the travel begins. The life and history of Lemuel Gulliver is given briefly. Gulliver is washed ashore due to a shipwreck during his first voyage. He finds himself surrounded by tiny people who are less than 6 inches tall. These tiny people makes him a prisoner as they consider him a giant creature. It was an island of Lilliputs. Once these tiny people got assured that Gulliver is not a threat, they started playing with him and he became the favourite of the Lilliput Royal Court. Though the Lilliputs were hospitable to Gulliver but they were still careful about his humongous size. The Lilliputs were the kind of people who would take trivial matters seriously. They put great emphasis on the matters like which side of an egg is to be broken. There was a deep political discussion on this topic that which side of an egg one should break. Their size was symbolic to their approach in life, i.e, small.

Lilliputians believed in displays of power and authority. Gulliver helps Lilliputs to fight with their neighbours Blefuscudians. He steals their fleet. Gulliver displeases the king and the Lilliputs by refusing to reduce the island nation of Blefuscu to a province of Lilliput. He was charged with many crimes like urinating in the capital. His defence to this was that he was doing so to put out the fire. Charges of treason put on him and he was sentenced to be blind. He had to escape from Lilliputs to Blefuscu with the help of a friend. There he finds an abandoned boat and he sails out. Gulliver gets rescued by another passing ship. He gets back home safely. His journey starts on 4 May 1699 & ends on 13 April 1702. The second part of the novel presents his voyage to Broabdingnag. This journey is of four years from 20 June 1702 to 3 June 1706. Gulliver's voyage again hits an adventure where his ship gets blown off by the storms. He sails towards a land where he could get fresh water. Gulliver finds himself alone on the western coast of North America. His friends are lost during the storm. He reaches Brobdingnag where he witness the grass which is tall like a tree. Then he sees a farmer who is 72 feet tall. Guylliver estimates the man's step being 9 meter long. The giant farmer takes Gulliver home where his daughter Glumdalclitch is given the responsibility to take care of Gulliver. The farmer exhibits Gullier to earn money. He gets sick due to constant display. The farmer sells Gulliver to the Queen where Glumdatclitch is also appointed to continue her responsibility of taking care of him. It gets difficult for Gulliver to do the basic routine things because of his small size. He couldn't use the huge bed, chair, spoons and fonk etc. The Queen orders to create a small house for Gulliver. It was called his 'travelling box'. He discusses the European states with the king of Brobdingnag. He tells about the use of guns and annons to which the king shows his displeasure. Gulliver faces many challenges due to his small size. He was carried by a monkey on the roof and later his cage (box) was taken by an eagle. He drops Gulliver to his box into the sea. Gulliver was saved by a sailor who returns him to England. In his third voyage, Gulliver goes to various places like Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, G lubbdubdrib and Japan. His voyage takes four years from 5 August 1706-16 April 1710. This time Gulliver's ship gets attacked by pirates. He left abandoned near an island. He was close to India. He reaches island called Laputa. It is a kingdom where peoples are devoted to arts, music, mathematics and astronomy but they are not able to use it in the practical life. Instead, they used armies and thrown rocks at rebellious cities. Gulliver wanders in Balnibarbi which comes under Laputa's rule. He was taken to Maldonada which was the main port of Balnibarbi. He was sent to Japan from there, through a trader. Meanwhile Gulliver also visits Glubbdubdrib which was located in the southwest of Balnibarbi. There he meets a magician who discusses the history of ghosts which includes-Julius Caesar, Brutus, Homer, Aristotle, Rene Descartes and Pierre Gassendi. On the way, Gulliver meets struldbrugs who are immortal. They are found in the island of Luggnagg. These immortal people do not remain youthful all their life. They suffer like old age people and legally declared dead after the age of eighty. He reaches Japan at the end. He requests the Emperor to excuse him as he performs the ceremony of trampling upon the crucifix. He performs this ceremony because it was imposed on him by his countrymen. The Emperor excuses him for this. He returns home and decides to remain there for the rest of his life.

In the fourth part, Gulliver travels to the Land of the Houyhnhnms. This voyage takes five years from 7 September 1710 - 5 Dec 1715. He decides to start this voyage because he was bored to work as a surgeon. He becomes the captain of a merchantman. His new crew members turn against him during the voyage. They leave him on an unknown land so that they could continue as pirates. This was the land of houyhnhnms. These are the race of talking horses. They rule over the deformed creatures that are similar to human beings. These creatures are called Yahoos.

Gulliver becomes a member of a horse's household. He starts initiating their behaviour. He admires the houyhnhnms. He accepts their way of life and disowns the fellow humans as Yahoos merely. Later the Assembly of houyhnhnms decide that Gulliver is a Yahoo and can be a danger to them. He was ordered to go back from where he came. Gulliver was helped by his Master, the horse he stayed in his household. He has given time to make a canoe to make his journey back home. On his way, another disaster came but he was rescued by a Portuguese ship. He finds that Captain Pedro de Mendez was a wise and generous man. He first thought of him as a Yahoo as he was considering himself a houyhnhnms. After returning home, Gulliver spoke to his horses in the stable. He became a recluse and avoided talking to the Yahoos; (fellow humans) There are various themes in this novel. Its diversity makes it suitable for children and adults both. it is a satire, a children's story, a proto-science fiction etc. The story presents the optimistic account of human capability. This theme can also be seen in swift's another work called Robinson Cruisoe. There is a satirical view of the European states and government. The Lilliputs fight over trivial issues. This represent the fights on religion. The novel also inquires about the character of man. It presents an enquiry that whether men are inherently corrupt or whether they become corrupted. There is another popular theme by Jonathan swift. The theme of ancient versus moderns is again used here after swift's 'Battle of the books'. The story follows some interesting patterns like the misadventures of Gulliver. He was first shipwrecked in his voyage then abandoned then attacked by strangers and at last attacked by his own view.

The reason of Gulliver's misfortunes becomes more and more cruel. Initially, Gulliver was more innocent but gradually he becomes tolerant. He was surprised to see the harsh behaviour of the Lilliputs but till the time of Houyhnhnms, he becomes immune. He considers their behaviour equal to humans. One of the most interesting facts about this novel is the reverse of the preceding part. In the first voyage, Gulliver is big then small in the second one. Then Gulliver is wise in the third voyage but ignorant in the fourth one. The countries he visits one by one are complex then simple then scientific and finally natural. Similarly the types of government in those places he visits are worse then better, next was worse and last one was better in comparison to Britain. How Gulliver sees the Lilliputians is same to the way the king of Brobdingnag sees Europe. Gulliver considers Lilliputs as-vicious so is the king of Brobdingnag does with the Europeans.

Similarly, Gulliver sees the Laputians as unreasonable and the Houyhnhnms consider humans as the same. A lot of feminist critics believe that swift use misogyny in the form of satire to mock at women. He makes remarks on female body. He did this other works as well. Misanthrophy is yet another theme discovered by the scholars. It is present mainly in the fourth part of the novel. It is the hate for fellow humans that is being shown. Gulliver's Travels is an unusual travel book. This genre was popular in swift's time. The book made the name Lilliput widely popular among many languages. It became a synonymn to small and delicate.

The novel deals with absurdity and wickedness of human beings. It presents the follies of mankind. Jonathan swift brings these themes in most of his works. Swift criticizes the people of his own society. The caricatures of the novel represent the people of the time. He points to satire the cruelty and irrationality in the Great Britain of his time. Swift tries to reform his contemporary society through his work. The novel is a social and political satire. Some more themes are morality and ethics, lies and deceit, society and class, politics and foreign land.

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