Book Review- Gulliver's Travels

How does the text relate to the theme of a journey?

The novel "Gulliver's Travels" by Jonathan Swift recounts the story of Lemuel Gulliver,a trained surgeon who takes the seas and narrates the adventures that befall him on his travels. The novel strongly relates to the theme of a journey because it explains about a person who travels from one place to another and gained experiences that would serve as life lessons. During his visit to Glubbdubdrib,the land of spirits, Gulliver had experienced the experience of a lifetime when he summons the ghost of the historical figures such as Alexander the Great and Julius Ceaser to ask any questions that he desired, which meant a lot to him.

Besides that, Gulliver learned new cultures,laws and languages during his voyages. For example, in Laputa, a person was sent to Gulliver in order to teach him their language which he finally succeeded brilliantly.He also learned that the inhabitants of Laputa evolves around Mathematics which was also apparent in their food. "The servants cut our bread into cones, cylinders, parallelograms and other mathematical figures" (pg 120).

In a journey,there will be chains of hardships that will occur and this was faced by Gulliver during his voyages.For instance,during his journey to the country of Houyhnhms,were he endured a test of human survivalbecause the inhabitans are horses and their choice of food and clothes was very different. Gulliver had to make his own bread in order to survive from starvation. Apart from that, he also had to do his own clothes and shoes which he made by wood.


What is the main issue in the text?

The main issue in the novel is human survival. Gulliver was faced with many difficult situations which he wisely managed. He was stranded in four different lands,Liliput,Brobdingnag,Laputa and Houyhnhnms which consisted of different inhabitants with different laws and cultures. However,Gulliver adapted himself very well to the condition that he's in without giving up to survive.Instead of being worried with the barriers in the language,culture and law,Gulliver was determined to learn all of it in order to make things easier and less complicated. During his stay in Brobdingnag,where he described the inhabitants as giant creatures, he was faced with many dangerous situations that endangered his life especially when he was attacked by a giant monkey which he eventually survived the attack.


What quality do you like or dislike in a character?

The character that I admire most in this novel is Gulliver and the quality in him that I find most appealing is his thirst for journey. "I could not reject his proposal; the thirst I had of seeing the world, notwithstanding my past misfortunes, continuing as violent as ever" (pg 115).

Despite having a few difficulties in his past voyages,it did not stop him simply because of his passion to see the world and that I am truly amaze. He is so driven by his passion that he continued with other journeys and he is not affected by the fortunes that he'll receive but only by the sight of the world. Throughout his whole journey,Gulliver had face four major problems ; at first he experienced a shipwreck,secondly his ship got hit by rocks ,thirdly his ship was attacked by pirates and lastly he was betrayed by his own shipmen.

How does the text help your understanding of the world?

After reading Gulliver's Travels,it has opened my perspective towards the understanding of the world. I believe that the world is filled with mountains of knowledge that ought to be discovered and learned by us. All around the world,there are many different cultures,laws and systems that might be beneficial to us. During Gullivers' stay in Houyhnhnms, he and his master discuss the different philosophies behind the societies from which they come from and matters regarding laws,government and politics. As a result, both of them gained more knowledge that might be at good use to them. For instance, Gulliver learned that the inhabitants of Houyhnhnms does not know the concept of lie and that amazes him because there's actually a society that are able to live without lying and all the betrayals and hurt caused by lying could be avoided. Basically, there are so many things yet to be discovered in this world. We may think we know all because we are cooped up in our own shell but there's actually more outside.