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Summary: i was'nt too sure
Review: i think this book was a bit too old for me to really say wether i liked it or not. my standards are pretty much based on novels from the last one hundred or so years. with that said the only really problem i had is that it was tooslow. the ideas behind the work were great but it was pretty dificult to keep up with the pace of the novel and all of the tiny nuances of the history.
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Summary: Reply to the Member 'crazyophelia'
Review: Did you know the monster in 'Frankenstein', which was written in 1816, is compared to the 'Id' in Freudian theory and that he too was created as a character long before Freud was born?
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Summary: Satirical Travel Journal
Review: In this story, Lemuel Guilliver, a career ship surgeon, writes a travel journal about his fantastic voyages on the high seas. His commercial ventures never worked out as planned, either a storm or mutiny ending them before returning to England, but each time he had the good fortune of landing on an island unexplored by Europeans. On these islands he runs into a variety of natives--giants, 6" tall people, people who reside on a flying island, and horses that take human-like Yahoos as pets. Each is an interesting and entertaining story in its own right and without reading any deeper into the story, but that is not why this book is a classic.The author, Jonathan Swift, was a master of satire. As an Irishman he despised British rule and resisted it through his writing. Because criticism of the crown and Parliament was a punishable offense, Swift projected the personalities and social events of the day into fictional characters in imaginary circumstances with wonderful effect. While telling a terrific fictional story, he was able to rail against the system and really make a name for himself as a satirist.
The one problem with reading a satire that is dated, is that many of the characters and social events about which the author wrote are obscured by the passage of time. I consider myself to be fairly well acquainted with British history and its major players, but without the assistance for excellent footnotes, I would have missed a tremendous amount in this story. It still would have been great without the footnotes, but would not have provided the same historical lesson, which is why I would recommend a version with a good introduction and footnotes regardless of why you are reading the story and how well you feel you know the history of Swift's era. I liked this book quite a bit, though I agree with many other reviewers who think it might by a little much for younger readers. In cartoons, picture books, or movies, it can be dumbed down to a cutesy fairy tale, which is fine and will hopefully encourage children to read the real story later in life, but an unabridged version will be boring and go right over their heads. I think it is an excellent book for adults who like fantasy fiction or readers who usually like historical or political non-fiction, as it is an excellent review of Swift's times.
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Summary: anti-anti-everything:
Review: Considering the topic of this book, I feel it necessary to discuss some of the stated perceptions regarding it: --Apparently some people believe this a children's book, sort of like the cutesy, toned down puppet shows that have passed for adaptations. A question of no doubt: This book was intended as an attack. I see in Swift something like an anarchistic mind--a man so revolted by every tribal persuation that passes for religion or for politics (often equally consumed, the two supposedly seperate ideas fused and bunched together, every contradiction in tact--!) and yet so disillusioned with every so-called 'independent movement', (be they political, social, or that stale haven of the two of them: Someone's brand new church--)that really all the poor man could see left was No hope-- Whether this is a lesson for children, whether it's appropriate to allow them to see all of the horrors and the insanity of our secualarized community filled with warring faiths and the greed and the snivelling of a competitive open party system, this is for the parent(s) to judge. If nothing else Gulliver's travels is a shattering portrait of a wide-ranging variety of communities all against both each other and themselves, all living together in a community defined by dicisiveness. Other comments I saw were purely academic: the charts and the lists, the textbook schemata of some condescending mind seeming to boast that they 'get it', when all that they really come across as having gotten is someone else's rather passionless point of view. The quoting of others, the application of philosophies that have today become so common place towards human understanding that these cyrpto-psycholo-intellectualticians undermine Mr. Swift (not to meant pre-date themselves in guess of who represents whom) in their praise, giving the man no credit for intuitive insight. Certain people rank this book as the 'best ever', or--worse yet!--as the compartmentilized 'best SATIRE ever'. Now surely this book is a work of the satiric art. To put it a better way: the whole present concept of satiric intent would not exist without the pulsing heart of Jonathan Swift's works. But to apply a ranking to something that can only be taken subjectively is meaningless. Swift was a man truly without fear. In an age when people could be excommunicated and possibly executed for making fun of those in power, this angry monk scribbled out bitter complaints about the self-serving absurdity of nearly everyone in power. Then, to judge in all fairness, he turns the blame on the victims, telling them that they don't have to take it, that after a while there is no one left to blame for their suffering but themselves. This satire is all-inclusive and can therefore not be conceived with an agenda. It is poking fun. It is the narrative of progressive exaggeration. It is a masterpiece-- Now of course we all need to justify our opinions by naming and accepting who or what we represent, but Swift acknowledges that this is just opinion, the one sacred thing to all of mankind. We create our own reality by applying our beliefs to our surroundings And if the whole world is out to get you, ultimately, you must be doing something terribly wrong to be so hated. I urge you--all of you, even those who much prefer an outlook able to provide for happy endings--read Gulliver's Travels. Take your time. And see who you are, taken to the logical extremes relating to your religious, political and community affiliations. And then laugh at the folly of the individual trapped in this world.
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Summary: A delightfully humorous satire
Review: Lemuel Gulliver is a surgeon/ship¨ˆs captain who embarks on several intriguing adventures. His first endeavor takes him to Lilliput, where all inhabitants are six inches tall, but resemble normal humans in every other respect. His next voyage lands him on Brobdingnag, where a grown man is sixty feet tall, and even the shortest dwarf stands thirty feet tall. On his third trip, he travels to several locations, including a floating island. During Gulliver¨ˆs final voyage, he is abandoned by his mutinous crew on the island of the Houyhnhnms, which are extremely intelligent horses. No evil or concept of lying exists among these creatures. The island is also inhabited by Yahoos, savage, irrational human-like creatures who are kept as pets by the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver wishes to spend the rest of his life on this peaceful island, but he is banished and forced to return to England.
I really enjoyed this book, and I would recommend it to people 14 or older. Since the novel was written in the 1700¡¯s, the words, grammar and usage are a little confusing. The reader also must have prior knowledge of 18th-century politics to get a full image of what Swift is trying to convey. At some points, the author goes into detail about nautical terms and happenings, and that tends to drag. Overall, the book is well-written, slightly humorous, if not a little confusing.
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Summary: Swift's famous satire
Review: Jonathan Swift's 18th century satire, Gulliver's Travels, is an extraordinary tale of the adventures of an English ship surgeon. The ship surgeon, Gulliver, by a series of unfortunate events on each of his four voyages at sea, receives the chance to explore the cultures of the countries of Lilliput, Brobdingnag, Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdrib, Luggnagg and the land of the Houyhnhnms. Each land is considerably different from the others, and creates quite an entertaining read. While the story itself is particularly unusual, the satirical element which Swift applied to it adds another level of comprehension. If understood, one could have a nice chuckle at the way Swift mockingly portrays ideas and people through the various cultures which Gulliver encounters. Some similes, however, are intended to get a more serious meaning across. For example, in his first journey of the book, Gulliver finds himself in the country of Lilliput where the people are only six inches tall, save the king who is seven. In this land there are two groups which were distinguished by which side a person breaks their eggs on. One king published an edict commanding all his subjects to break their eggs on the small side, but many would've picked death over breaking their eggs on the 'wrong' side, so many did. By this, Swift meant to throw contempt on the exaggerated importance that people place on their differences, as on which side one breaks an egg is a very trivial thing. The two groups mentioned represent the Catholic and Protestant religions, between which were many wars and massacres during the 1500's when the Protestants first appeared. Gulliver's Travels takes the reader to many lands, all different and unique ' each adding another perspective on traditional beliefs and ways of thinking. Gulliver changes as much as the scenery around him, and after each voyage he has changed dramatically. At the end he has transformed so much that I feel really sorry for his family ' although it's only love that could allow them to put up with his strange behaviors. I would recommend this book to anyone with an appetite for literature, as Gulliver's Travels is an excellent satire of the ways of the thinking in the early 1700's. Also, the author does a good job in describing the lands which Gulliver visits in great detail. Although Swift may not have written this book with intense action scenes and steamy romance, it is definitely a work worthy of the people of today.
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Summary: A Fantasy World Brought To Life in a Book
Review: Gulliver is a surgeon whose adventures begin when he decides to go out to sea. He travels from island to island where he discovers a variety of strange new people and creatures. He meets people who are six inches tall to people who are sixty feet tall to horses that act like humans. Each place has something new and different that Gulliver has never layed eyes on. He comes across many customs and ways of living thats he finds to be bizarre and peculiar. When Gulliver encounters the Houyhnhnms he thinks to himself how intelligent they are. He finds them to be the greatest creatures on Earth and can't believe he is a disgraceful so called "Yahoo". I think Johnathan Swift is a very talented writer. To have a book published so many years ago and to have it still be a classic is amazing. To me this book doesn't seem to be a book that a teenager would enjoy. Although I would recomend it to anyone that enjoys the unexplainable fantasy world.
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Summary: Gulliver's Adventures
Review: In Gulliver's Travels, Gulliver explores many fantasy islands where he landed on by accident; he keeps on wanting to explore more far away places. On Gulliver's first voyage, he gets shipwrecked on the land of Lilliput, where he meets people only six inches tall. These people are very curious at first, but then get used to Gulliver being around and helping where needed. On his second voyage, Gulliver lands on an island where people are sixty feet tall. Gulliver then gets treated like a circus animal when a man shows him off for money without feeding him well. Gulliver then finds a way home, back to England and sets off for more adventures that bring him to an island that floats in the sky and also to a land where beasts look like men.
One of the most emotional situations in Gulliver's Travels was when Gulliver was in Brobdingnag (his second voyage) and was used as a way to get money by being showed to many people who were curious. I felt bad that Gulliver had to live like a circus animal and on top of that, he was not being fed well. He was traveling with his owner to many places a day getting no respect what so ever by his owner who happened to be a farmer. A quote that I liked that shows how Gulliver felt was, "I was so tired with my first journey, and with entertaining company for eight hours together, that I could hardly stand upon my legs or speak a word." This quote clearly states that the farmer was over working Gulliver and how Gulliver felt about being showed to people. That is why this is a good quote that explains the main characters feelings.
Jonathan Swift is a very good writer because he gives good details in this novel about the lands in which Gulliver landed on. He also gives detailed descriptions on the government of each land. Jonathan Swift has a very creative mind that shows as you read through Gulliver's many voyages that are like fairy tales.
I would recommend Gulliver's Travels because it has a lot of creativity with all of the voyages that Gulliver goes on. It also gives detailed descriptions on the lands visited. The type of audience that I think would really enjoy this novel are the people who are interested in government and also culture. Even though these lands are made up places, it is still fun to see how Jonathan Swift expresses his creative mind through the lands visited and the people made up.
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Summary: To the reviewer Amanda:
Review: I really appreciated your review, as it helped me get the gist of sections I had not yet read. I would only like to say, however, that while Gulliver may have had some progressive ideas about human psychology, his intention with the Houyhnhnms and the Yahoos could not possibly have been Freudian, as Freud's work did not exist until over a century and a half after Swift wrote his book. I do like your interpretation, though, since as 21st century readers we can apply Freud's theories backwards to Swift's writing, and look at what marvelous results we get!
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Summary: "When bending my eyes downward..."
Review: "...I cannot but conclude the bulk of your natives to be the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth." There are many things "Gulliver's Travels": funny, comedic, satirical, depressing, inspiring, etc. But there is one thing it is not: a book for children. If Swift knew this he would laugh and telll us to boil our children and eat them! ;) Swift is most likely the greatest satirist that ever lived and his intellect is very prominent in "Gulliver's Travels". He creates his own fool, Lemuel Gulliver, a man of great book intellect but too much wind in the ears. Swift sends him on little voyages to other countries not to give the reader something interesting to read but to shine a light of everyone's eyes. That's why Gulliver is so flat. Swift does not want the reader to understand Gulliver or even like Gulliver because "Gulliver's Travels" is NOT a novel and Gulliver is not a character, he's the human race surrounded by the human race. Gulliver leaves his wife, who does not question him, and ends up on the isle of the Lilliputians, near Madagascar. There he is bound up and taken as prisoner of tiny people, only six inches in height. He proves these people that he is not only a genteel servant but he is quite a disgusting pig, seeing nothing wrong on urinating all over. What's so wrong with that? But Gulliver's disgusting ways are not the mind grabber. Look at the Lilliputians: they are petty little buggers making their govermental officials do tricks to get elected. Are we not the same? Gulliver arrives at home only to leave his wife anbd family for the Brobdingnagians, the isle of the giants near the Cape of Good Hope. Now, it is reversed. Gulliver must endure the putrid stinche of these iodious animals and be used as a sex toy for the ladies. Obviously not for children. Swift takes from his poems to show how people may look beautiful on the outside, but we're really disgusting creatures underneath all the perfume. It's quite comical when he describes the farmer's wife's breasts. It made me think how men idiolize a woman for her breasts when they're really giants lump of flesh for nursing. Part III is quick, Gulliver returns home, leaves and encounters four different people all near Japan. The Laputa's are hilarious, like some of our masterminds today, focusing on the higher level of thinking and rejecting the fundamental steps to these levels. Lagado is very similar except that these people extract sunbeams from cucumbers and do all sorts of ridiculous things that mean nothing at all. The Glubbdubdribs really caught my eye in that they are really intellectual but take pride in their sodomy, raping, incest, theft and other immoral acts. People seem to think genius equals insanity and insanity equals immorality. These people feel they can easily get away with whatever they deem well because they are intellectual. Gulliver returns home, but I think he finally realizes he is deprived because he gets his older wife pregnant. He leaves her and encounters the Yahoos, the Id in Freudian theory and the Houyhnhnms, the super ego. This is my favourite Part and probably the saddest because we see what a lot of religious people do: reject the ego for the super ego (I do not mean manly ego, I am talking about Freud). I will not further discuss this part since this is the best part. All throughout this satire, Swift throws a wet blanket on politics, religion (hypocritical religion) and the human race in general. We need to be ego, be human, but no petty, shiftless, disgusting or ignorant. I think Swift truly understands the complexities and simplicities of human nature.
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