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Reflects on the Society in Gulliver's Travels

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Reflects on the Society in Gulliver's Travels
Reflects on the Society in Gulliver's Travels

Jonathan Swift wrote Gulliver's Travels in 1762 with the intent of providing entertainment for people. Entertainment through satire was what Swift had in mind. In Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift traveled to four different foreign countries, each representing a corrupt part of England. Swift criticized the corruption of such parts and focused on the government, society, science, religion and man. Not only did Swift criticize the customs of each country, he mocked the naive man who was unable to figure out the double meaning of things. When reading Gulliver's Travels, reflects upon plot, characters, settings, theme, point of view, conflicts, climax, resolution, symbolism and figurative language will be of great help to comprehend the ideas portrayed throughout the novel as well as how Swift developed the story. I. Settings of Gulliver's Travels
The setting plays an important role in all novels, but in Gulliver’s Travels, one must take into consideration that the four different parts of the book have separate settings. The first setting was more or less on an island called Lilliput where Gulliver cast ashore due to a ship wrecks on November 5, 1699. The setting of the second part in the novel happened to be upon his arrival at another island which Gulliver had wished to inspect for water. The third part of the book consisted of many different little scenes where Gulliver’s experience on an island called Laputa was pictured first. The fourth and also the last part of the book took place in the country of Houyhnhnms 1711. II. Discussion of Characters a) The Main Character
Gulliver, main character in the novel, used to be a well educated sailor who was recommended to be a surgeon later. Traveling around the world and exploring new places, Gulliver had met many new cultures and civilizations. He wore clothes uncommon in 1700s and had long hair which sometimes restricted him from turning his head. Gulliver was a



Bibliography: and Website * * Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels Penguin Books Ltd (UK), 2007 * Ronald Knowles, Gulliver’s ' Travels: the Politics of Satires Twayne Publishers, 1996 * Wikipedia-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/main_page

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