## Task 2: Gulliver's Travels

In this task you are going to focus on the novel Gulliver's travels by Jonathan Swift.

Read the following synopsis (from www.bookdrum.com) to get an idea of the complete story:

Lemuel Gulliver has wanderlust. He takes every opportunity to abandon his loving wife and children, setting sail as a ship’s surgeon on whichever ship will hire him. Unfortunately, every ship he joins is either shipwrecked or attacked by pirates. It is following these unfortunate incidents that Gulliver discovers his new lands: worlds that reveal the meanness, vileness, idiocy, and barbarity of life. His first voyage sees him washed ashore in Lilliput, whose inhabitants are less than six inches tall. They manage to take him prisoner, but he is soon released and becomes an honoured guest. Although he helps the Lilliputians in a war with their neighbours, their gratitude soon fades and he is charged with treason. He manages to put out to sea where he is rescued and returned home. On his second voyage, Gulliver finds himself abandoned in Brobdingnag, a land of giants. He is well treated as a pet and curiosity, and is soon adopted by the Queen. She provides him with a miniature house, and he enjoys a comfortable life – except when he has to battle giant wasps. Eventually his house is seized by a giant eagle and carried off to sea. Again, he is rescued and returned home. Undaunted, Gulliver puts to sea a third time, only to find himself on the flying island of Laputa, whose learned citizens waste their time in pointless scientific endeavours such as attempting to soften marble for pillows. On the same trip, Gulliver meets a magician and a race of wizened immortals, condemned to suffer forever the miseries of old age. He even visits Japan, where he encounters the Emperor. The fourth and final voyage takes Gulliver to the land of the Houyhnhnms, wise and dignified horses who rule over savage humans called Yahoos. Gulliver identifies with the Houyhnhnms rather than the Yahoos, but they ultimately reject and expel him. He is once again rescued and returned home. Back in England, Gulliver is unable to fit into society, preferring to talk to horses. His eyes have been opened to the monstrosity of the human condition. He has experienced too much, both awesome and fearsome. It takes years for him to be able to enjoy the company of his wife and grown children. He writes his diary, Gulliver’s Travels, as a warning for all of humanity.

Gulliver's Travels has always been a very popular work of fiction. Because of this there have been quite a lot of film adaptations. Watch these two official film trailers from respectively 1996 and 2010:

There is even a cartoon version from 1934: Gulliver Mickey.

Now read the extract from Gulliver's Travels in your Poems and Extracts reader and answer the following questions:

- What are the main causes of war according to Gulliver? Give at least two examples.
- Which wars does he say are the worst?
- Jonathan Swift uses a lot of irony and satire in his work. Find at least three examples of this in the passage you have read.