Gulliver’s Travels Part 1. After reading Parts 1 & 2 of Gulliver’s Travels, answer the following questions in this discussion board. Be sure you answer in complete sentences and use at least two (2) quotes from the poem to support each of your answers.
After reading Parts 1 & 2 of Gulliver’s Travels, answer the following questions in this discussion board. Be sure you answer in complete sentences and use at least two (2) quotes from the poem to support each of your answers. Include proper MLA in-text citations.
When visiting the Lilliputians, how does being a giant change Gulliver’s attitude toward himself?
Why are the Lilliputians at war? What is Swift saying about war? About nationalism?
What ideas about religion are satirized during Swift’s visit with the Lilliputians?
How does Gulliver function as a foil to both the Lilliputians and to the Brobdingnagians? What is Swift saying with their different sizes?
How does Swift’s depiction of the Brobdingnagians reflect on ordinary humans? What do you think he is suggesting to us?
In Gulliver’s Travels, Swift uses his character Lemuel Gulliver to poke fun at the human race. He does this by creating a world where humans are the most insignificant creatures imaginable.
In Part 2 of the poem, Gulliver goes to Laputa, a flying island that is ruled by scientists who have made their greatest discovery: they can calculate the weight of any object simply by looking at it. They then use this discovery as an excuse to simply ignore people’s needs and desires because they can calculate what would make people happy without actually knowing what makes them happy.
In Part 1 of the poem, Gulliver visits Luggnagg, a kingdom where aging is considered a disease and doctors cure it with medicines that bring about death quickly so that no one has to suffer from old age or other illnesses for long periods of time.
The king of Luggnagg decides that he wants everyone in his kingdom to die young so that he can avoid having to deal with anyone who might challenge him politically; however, since there are very few people left in his kingdom who are still alive after they reach old age (and therefore unable to challenge him), he has no choice but to send Gulliver to the island of Balnibarbi, another kingdom in the land of Luggnagg where people are allowed to live long lives.
When Gulliver arrives there, he is surprised to see that the people on Balnibarbi are all very tall and thin; he also realizes that they have an obsession with war and violence that is unlike anything he has ever seen before. When Gulliver arrives on this island, he is taken to the court of the king. At first glance, the king appears to be a very wise and benevolent ruler; however, as soon as Gulliver starts speaking with him about his kingdom and its people, it becomes clear that he has no idea what he is doing.
The king does not understand why there are so many wars being fought in Luggnagg when he has outlawed them. He is also very confused when Gulliver tells him that he has a problem with the way his people treat each other, which leads Gulliver to believe that the king is not as wise as he first appeared to be. The king is also ignorant of how his people live.
When Gulliver tells him that the farmers in Luggnagg treat their cattle like kings, he does not understand what this means. He has never been on a farm or seen cows before, so he does not know why humans would want to be treated as well as animals.
The king is also very ignorant of the outside world. He does not know what a monkey or an elephant looks like, and he has no idea why Gulliver would want to go there when his own country is so wonderful. The king also has a hard time understanding why Gulliver wants to leave Luggnagg because he thinks it is the perfect place for him. He does not understand that everyone has their own desires and needs that they cannot be satisfied by living in one place forever.
The king of Luggnagg also has a hard time understanding Gulliver because he is so different. He cannot understand why Gulliver would want to leave the island or why he would want to go to other places that have never heard of before. The king thinks that all humans should stay in their own countries, and it makes him unhappy when someone decides that they want something more out of life.
The king of Luggnagg seems to be a very happy person though, and he is always smiling. He is never sad or angry, even when Gulliver talks about leaving the island. The king’s happiness comes from his ignorance of other places and people; he thinks that he has everything he needs right there on his island.
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