Gulliver's Travels - World Youth Literature Classics Library

Author: Swift
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: Among Swift's works, Gulliver's Travels is the most widely known and beloved by readers around the world. The protagonist, Gulliver, works on a ship as a surgeon and experiences several voyages, visiting many places in the world and having numerous adventures. What is particularly noteworthy are his four journeys to the Lilliputians, the Brobdingnagians, the Flying Island, and the Houyhnhnms. This book recounts his experiences during these travels:
On the first voyage, their ship encountered terrible storms, and Gulliver was shipwrecked on an island. The island's inhabitants were all about six inches tall, revealing it to be a Lilliputian land. In Lilliput, because he refused to obey the Lilliputian king's order to invade neighboring countries, he was persecuted and had to flee.
On the second voyage, Gulliver arrived in Brobdingnag, where the people were extremely tall, making Gulliver seem like a tiny speck in their presence. He was brought to the royal palace and was favored by the king and queen. He stayed there for two years before leaving Brobdingnag by chance.
Gulliver's third journey took him to the Flying Island, a world isolated from the rest of the world, where people's minds were closed and stagnant. After lingering on the island for several days, he set sail again and visited two countries—Lagrange and Japan—before finally returning to Japan.
Gulliver's last voyage brought him to the land of the Houyhnhnms, where the inhabitants resembled horses in appearance but possessed great wisdom, self-control, and etiquette, while humans had become domesticated "livestock" raised by the Houyhnhnms. After living on the island for some time, he returned to his homeland.