STUDY QUESTIONS FOR GULLIVER’S TRAVELS
1. Why is Gulliver’s Travels considered a satirical novel? What is the main target of satire in Part I of the novel?
2. What are the implications of the journey motif in Gulliver’s Travels?
3. How is the exploitation of power represented in the land of Lilliput?
4. Provide two examples that show the power abuse in the novel.
5. What is implied by “Tramecksans and Slamecksans” and
“Little Endians and Big Endians”?
6. In what ways is Gulliver disgusted by the giants? What does his repulsion indicate?
7. Provide two examples to show the differences between the king of Brobdingnag and the king of Lilliput.
8. During his experience in Lilliput, does Gulliver cast a critical eye on the governing system in Lilliput or does he conform to their way of life? Why is he so pleased with the title of Nardac?
What does it imply?
9. Why does the King discredit Gulliver’s account of his country? What does it imply?
10. Identify and comment on the extract below.
“… as human creatures are observed to be more savage and cruel in proportion to their bulk, what could I expect but to be a morsel in the mouth of the first among these enormous barbarians that should happen to seize me? Undoubtedly philosophers are in the right, when they tell us that nothing is great or little otherwise than by comparison.”
11. What does the island of Laputa look like?
12. What are the inhabitants of this island mainly interested in?
13. What island does Laputa dominate?
14. What experiments are carried out by the projectors in the Grand Academy of Lagado?
15. What do these experiments tell us about their appreciation of science?
16. What kind of a place is Glubbdubdrib?
17. How does Gulliver’s experience in these lands affect him?
18. What is Swift’s target of satire in this section (Book III)?
19. What are the differences between the Yahoos and the Houyhnhnms?
20. What is significant about the language of the
Houyhnhnmns, and what does it indicate about their frame of mind, morals, values, etc.?
21. What are the “two principal virtues” among the Houyhnhnmns?
22. Describe the social structure in the country of the Houyhnhnms.
23. What does Gulliver’s account of the state of affairs in his country in Book IV consist of, and what does it imply?
24. In what ways is Gulliver’s account in Book IV different from that he gave to the King of Brobdingnag? What is his account mainly critical of?
25. How does his experience in the country of Houyhnhnms transform him?
26. What do Gulliver’s concluding remarks indicate?
