Gulliver's Travels

Author: (British) Jonathan Swift
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-08-01
Features: Gulliver's Travels is Swift's masterpiece, a remarkable book that far exceeds the scope of a "children's book." The book consists of four volumes, each volume featuring the protagonist, Gulliver, encountering unimaginable situations. The adventurer, a British surgeon by profession who rose to become a ship captain, travels to various countries such as Lilliput, Brobdingnag, and the Flying Islands, forming the four parts of Gulliver's Travels.
In the second volume, Gulliver travels to Lilliput, where the inhabitants are only one-twelfth the size of him. The king of Lilliput considers himself a supreme ruler simply because his subjects are taller than his fingernails, and officials can be promoted to higher ranks by jumping rope. In Brobdingnag, Gulliver sees a wise king and a well-structured legal system, and through the words of the Brobdingnagian king, he criticizes the flaws of British governance. The third volume centers on Gulliver's travels to Laputa, with additional journeys to Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib, and Japan.
Gulliver's Travels is a novel that combines satire and adventure. These fictional countries bear the strong imprint of 18th-century British society. Through the protagonist's journeys to different lands, the author reveals the contradictions of British society at the time and delivers a sharp satire of its political system.