SATIRE IN GULLIVER’S TRAVEL

Satire
“Satire is the art of making someone or something looks
ridiculous, raising laughter in order to embarrass, humble, or
discredit its targets”

Gulliver’s Travel As A Satire

Gulliver's Travels, as a whole, qualifies as a Menippean satire as it
satirized various aspects of the society all at once, having no fixed target.
The persona of Gulliver exposed all of Swift's intentions and concerns the
best, in the four parts of Gulliver's Travels. Swift makes satirical effects to
the fullest by using techniques of irony, contrast, and symbolism. The
story is based on then British social reality. He not only satirizes on then
British politics and religion, but also, in a deeper facet, on human nature
itself.

In Gulliver's first adventure, he begins on a ship that runs aground

on a submerged rock. He swims to land, and when he awakens, he finds
himself tied down to the ground, and surrounded by tiny people, the
Lilliputians.  In Lilliput, years ago, people once broke eggs on the big
end. However, the present king's grandfather once cut himself breaking
the egg in this manner, so the King at the time, the father of the
present king's grandfather, issued an edict that all were to break the
eggs on the small end. Some of the people resisted, and they found
refuge in Blefuscu, and "for six and thirty moons past" the two sides
have been at war. With this event of the story Swift satirizes the
needless bickering and fighting between the two nations i.e. England
and France.
 However the methods of selecting people for public office in
Lilliput are very different from that of any other nation, or rather,
would appear to be so at first. In order to be chosen, a man must "rope
dance" to the best of his abilities. Here Swift satires on the government
system of England. He mocks on the president Mr. Walpole who won
the heart of king by showing his trickeries.

After staying in England with his family for two months, he sets
sail again. The voyage takes him to a land of giants Brobdingnag
where the perspective shifts and Gulliver finds himself a Lilliputian to
the Brobdingnagians. Most of the social and political criticism occurs in
chapters six and seven. Gulliver describes European civilization to
Brobdingnag's King, including England's political and legal institutions
and how they work where the perspective shifts and Gulliver finds
himself a Lilliputian to the Brobdingnagians. Most of the social and
political criticism occurs in chapters six and seven. Gulliver describes
European civilization to Brobdingnag's King, including England's
political and legal institutions and how they work.
On Gulliver’s third voyage he is set adrift by pirates and
eventually ends up on the flying island of Laputa. Swift’s satires in
the third book shift focus from ethic and political aspects to
academic field, since most part of this section contributes to
description of impractical scientific experiments and workings of
certain things. For instance, descriptions Gulliver makes about the
technique used to move the island are convoluted. The
government floats over the rest of the kingdom, using technology
to control its subjects. The floating island represents the distance
between the government and the people it governs. The king is
oblivious to the real concerns of the people below. Swift
continues his mockery of academics by describing the projects
carried out in the cities below Laputa. The academy serves to
create entirely useless projects while the people stare outside its
walls.

In the fourth part, disgust for human is expressed to such an

extreme that readers often feel uncomfortable reading this
section.  Gulliver's ultimate travels are to a greater understanding of
human nature and its flaws. Swift mocks blind devotion. Gulliver,
leaving the Houyhnhnms, says that he "took a second leave of my
master, but as I was going to prostrate myself to kiss his hoof, he
did me the honor to raise it gently to my mouth." Swift was indeed
so thorough a satirist that many of his early readers misread the
section on the Houyhnhnms. They were so enamored of reason
that they did not realize that Swift was metamorphosing a virtue
into a vice. Gulliver undergoes a stage of transform in book four,
where he develops a love for the Houyhnhnms to the point that
he does not want to return to humankind. He has an identity crisis
although he is not aware of it. He thinks of his friends and family
as Yahoolike, but forgets that he comes from “English Yahoos”.
The Houyhnhnms think that Gulliver is some kind of Yahoo,
though superior to the rest of his species. He asks them to stop
using that word to refer to him, and they consent. This once again
expresses disgust for human.
THE END.