Gulliver’s Travels by Johnathan Swift
Hi! My name is Madeline, I am in 9th grade and live in Hailey Idaho. I love politics, philosophy, writing, and playing the violin. I could talk about these topics all day. I also love reading, my favorite books are The Lord of The Rings, anything written by Tolkien, and Fahrenheit 451.
Gulliver’s Travels, by Jonathan Swift, is a witty, satirical book sure to make you laugh and shake your head at times.
The story focuses on an adventurous man named Gulliver, who can’t stay on land for long. He signs up to be a ship’s surgeon. The voyage is everything he hoped for until a fierce storm starts, and the ship is torn to pieces. Fortunately, they shipwrecked a few miles from land and Gulliver is able to swim to shore. He sees no trace of his companions and realizes he is the lone survivor. He is too tired to worry and promptly falls asleep. In the morning, he finds he has been taken captive and is tied down with ropes. This is unsettling, but what shocks him most is the size of his captors, who are only six inches tall. The book describes this and other adventures he has, including his encounter with many strange peoples and places, such as giants, a floating city, and an island of civilized horses.
This book is very symbolic and satirical and Swift uses the adventures of Gulliver as a way to criticize English society where he believes people think more highly of themselves than they ought. Swift constantly uses changing perspectives to highlight his opinion that people are prideful and overestimate their greatness when, in reality, they are petty and frail.
Overall, this was an enjoyable book, although it became redundant after a while. I recommend it for ages 12 and older.
