Opravy

Gulliver's Travels" is a satirical and adventure novel.

The main character is Lemuel Gulliver, an English young ship's doctor who loves travelling around the world.

His first journey begins in 1699, when, after a storm at sea, he finds himself in a country called Lilliput, where the people are only fifteen centimetres tall.

He finally escapes and goes home, but soon leaves on another journey and visits other strange places.

He arrives to Brobdingnag, where people are much bigger than he is, then he discovers Laputa, a flying island where people's main interests are music and Mathematics.

Soon after, he travels to the island of Glubbdubdrib, where he meets ghosts of people from the past, and to the one of Luggnagg, where there are people who can lie forever.

His last journey is in Houyhnhnms, a land where horses can talk.

Gulliver's Travels is often considered to be a children's book, or it can seem a simple novel of adventure, but it's not.

Actually, it's a very satirical book, because the author wants to criticize the corruption of the English government, society, science, through the characters of the story.

Gulliver comes into contact with different populations, and each of them has better and worse characteristics than Europeans' ones.

For example, Lilliputians have a more advanced practical system than the ones of Europe in 1700.

In fact, the King doesn't take advantage of the population for his own objectives: he lives with his money and only in rare occasions he taxes his subjects.

The thing is completely different in the Europe of 1700, when Kings taxed the population and lived in the luxury.

Also, in contrast with Europeans, Lilliputians could change their social status: "people who want to become the king's officials jump and dance on this rope, and whoever jumps highest without falling gets the best job".

In Lilliput "criminals must be punished, but people of good character must be rewarded".

Another significant phrase is "It is more important to have a good character than to be clever or intelligent" : Swift wants to say that people who know shouldn't reign, because they could resort to tricks or deceits , and the morality of a person is much more important than his ability.

In fact, the errors committed by an ignorant person are less dangerous than the ones committed by someone who knows how to behave badly.

However, like he says, "human nature is the same in every country".

The King is a cruel person and he uses Gulliver as he is his personal weapon because he wants to conquer the island of his enemies.

He's a very mean person: "Although I had saved his country...

He preferred to remember my refusal".

Also in the isle of giants Swift criticizes man: gulliver's first owner represents the selfishness of man.

Gulliver is constantly used to amuse people and he's abused for the profit of the owner.

The owner is a man without humanity, and when he finds out that Gulliver is weakening, he sells him immediately : " ..

It was clear that he wanted to make as much money out of me as he could".

In addition, in the palace of the Queen Gulliver is considered "a creature outside the laws of nature", "an insect".

Gulliver travels to lands more deteriorated than Europe, like the one of Laputa, where people "spend so much time thinking about mathematical problems that they do not notice what is happening around them".

Here Swift criticizes the Royal English society, which is composed of useless philosophers, inventors and scientists, who don't think of the good of the population.

"People looked so hungry and miserable..

There were no vegetables or corn growing in the fields".

Then, when Gulliver talks about important people from the past, the author wants to criticize the fact that the story has always been written by the winners, who exalt themselves even when they don't deserve the glory. while some people are remembered through the years when they don't deserve it, others, who really deserved that, have been forgotten by everyone.