CliffsNotes on

Gulliver's Travels

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Book Summary

Jonathan Swift Biography

Early Years and Education
Swift's Career
Swift's Major Literary Works
About Gulliver's Travels

Summary, Analysis, and Original Text by Chapter

Book I: A Voyage to Lilliput: Chapter 1
Book I: A Voyage to Lilliput: Chapter 2
Book I: A Voyage to Lilliput: Chapter 3
Book I: A Voyage to Lilliput: Chapter 4
Book I: A Voyage to Lilliput: Chapter 5
Book I: A Voyage to Lilliput: Chapter 6
Book I: A Voyage to Lilliput: Chapter 7
Book I: A Voyage to Lilliput: Chapter 8
Book II: A Voyage to Brobdingnag: Chapter 1
Book II: A Voyage to Brobdingnag: Chapter 2
Book II: A Voyage to Brobdingnag: Chapter 3
Book II: A Voyage to Brobdingnag: Chapter 4
Book II: A Voyage to Brobdingnag: Chapter 5
Book II: A Voyage to Brobdingnag: Chapter 6
Book II: A Voyage to Brobdingnag: Chapter 7
Book II: A Voyage to Brobdingnag: Chapter 8
Book III: A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib, and Japan: Chapter 1
Book III: A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib, and Japan: Chapter 2
Book III: A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib, and Japan: Chapter 3
Book III: A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib, and Japan: Chapter 4
Book III: A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib, and Japan: Chapter 5
Book III: A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib, and Japan: Chapter 6
Book III: A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib, and Japan: Chapter 7
Book III: A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib, and Japan: Chapter 8
Book III: A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib, and Japan: Chapter 9
Book III: A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib, and Japan: Chapter 10
Book III: A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib, and Japan: Chapter 11
Book IV: A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms: Chapter 1
Book IV: A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms: Chapter 2
Book IV: A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms: Chapter 3
Book IV: A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms: Chapter 4
Book IV: A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms: Chapter 5
Book IV: A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms: Chapter 6
Book IV: A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms: Chapter 7
Book IV: A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms: Chapter 8
Book IV: A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms: Chapter 9
Book IV: A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms: Chapter 10
Book IV: A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms: Chapter 11
Book IV: A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms: Chapter 12

Character List

Character Map

Character Analysis

Lemuel Gulliver
The Lilliputians
The Brobdingnagians
The Houyhnhnms
The Yahoos

Critical Essays

Philosophical and Political Background of Gulliver's Travels
Swift's Satire in Gulliver's Travels
Gulliver as a Dramatis Persona

Study and Homework Help

Full Glossary for Gulliver's Travels
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Critical Essays

Gulliver as a Dramatis Persona

Gulliver is completely befuddled at the end of the Travels. He has reached for an unhuman ideal and has rejected the sub-human Yahoos as too thoroughly human. He believes that the Travels is a defense of himself, showing how morally he acted. In truth, the Travels is the best evidence one could have that Gulliver often acted very ridiculously. He imagines one type of audience; Swift created for another. Gulliver's gullibility and his simplicity are responsible for his downfall. He does not realize that human beings are infinitely more complex than the Yahoos or the Houyhnhnms. Being a simple man, he simplifies to disastrous extremes. He has come full turn — from being proud of being a European man to disgust for all people. Gulliver believes his distorted vision. Swift does not. He holds it up only as a disconcerting, shocking mirror image — the kind one finds at a carnival. This is the reason for his satire — to catch us off-guard, to magnify, to miniaturize, and to make us see anew.


Gulliver as a Dramatis Persona: 1 2 3
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