Showing posts with label Novel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Novel. Show all posts

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift- Summary and Analysis

Tags: , ,


Gulliver’s Travels has been written by Jonathan Swift, and it is the story of the various adventures of Lemuel Gulliver, who is basically the narrator and protagonist in the book. Gulliver, a married surgeon from Nottinghamshire, England, is someone who loves traveling. He works as a surgeon on ships and lands up becoming a ship captain.
Through many unfortunate events during his voyage at sea, Gulliver gets stranded in foreign lands and absurd situations, whether it’s getting captured by the miniature Lilliputians or becoming friends with talking horses, the Houyhnhnms. Here, we give you Gulliver’s Travels Summary.

Gulliver’s Travels Summary

Gulliver embarks on four separate voyages in Gulliver’s Travels. There is a storm before every journey. All the four voyages add new perspectives to Gulliver’s life and also give him new opportunities for satirizing the ways of England.
·       In the first voyage, Gulliver travels to Lilliput, where he is huge and the Lilliputians are small. Initially, the Lilliputians look amiable, but the reader soon understands that they are very ridiculous and petty creatures. For “making water”, Gulliver gets convicted of treason in the capital (although he was putting out a fire and saving innumerable lives)–among other “crimes.”
·       In the second voyage, Gulliver travels to Brobdingnag, which is a land of Giants and he is as small as the Lilliputians were to him. So, naturally, Gulliver is scared, but his keepers are surprisingly gentle. He gets humiliated by the King when he is forced to see the difference between how England is and how it ought to be. Gulliver soon understands that he must have been very revolting to the Lilliputians.
·       In the third voyage, Gulliver travels to Laputa (and neighbouring Luggnagg and Glubdugdribb). When he visits the island of Glubdugdribb, he gets the power to call up the dead and discovers the deceptions of history. In the land of Laputa, the people are over-thinkers and are outrageous in many ways. He also meets the Stuldbrugs there, which is basically a race that is blessed with immortality. But Gulliver finds out that they are miserable.
·       In the fourth voyage, Gulliver travels to the land of Houyhnhnms, who are horses gifted with a reason. Their coherent, clean, and trouble-free society is contrasted with the foulness and brutality of the Yahoos, who are beasts in human shape. Gulliver manages to unwillingly come to recognize their human vices. He ends up staying with the Houyhnhnms for many years and gets totally captivated with them to a point that he never wants to leave. When he gets to know that the time has come for him to leave the island, he faints from unhappiness. When he returns to England, Gulliver feels appalled about other humans, including his own family.
·        

Gulliver’s Travels Summary: Characters

Lemuel Gulliver
An adventurer and traveler. Gulliver is the protagonist of the Travels. He is a spectator of other beings and various cultures.
Blefuscudians
They are the sworn enemies of the Lilliputians. And they live on a neighbouring island. Gulliver goes to their island when the Lilliputians convict him of treachery.
Brobdingnagians
They are the inhabitants of Brobdingnag and are giant creatures in comparison to Gulliver.
The Emperor
He’s the leader of the Lilliputians. At first, he acts friendly toward Gulliver but later changes his mind about him when Gulliver doesn’t agree to continue fighting Blefuscu and puts out a fire in the Empress’s chamber by urinating on it.
The Farmer
When Gulliver stays in Brobdingnag, he calls the farmer who takes him in his master. The farmer finally sells Gulliver to the Queen.
Flimnap
Gulliver’s enemy at Lilliput, he blames Gulliver for sleeping with his wife.
Glumdalclitch
In Brobdingnagian, her name means “little nurse”. So, Gulliver calls the farmer’s daughter with this name, who cares for him during his stay in Brobdingnag.
Mrs. Mary Burton Gulliver
Gulliver’s wife.
Houyhnhnms
It is a species of horses that are gifted with great compassion and virtue. Gulliver lives with them for many years and in the end, feels extremely sad to return to England.
The King
Gulliver spends a lot of hours with the King of Brobdingnag while discussing politics and comparing their two cultures.
Laputans
They are the inhabitants of a floating island who wear astronomical and mathematical symbols. They also have trouble paying attention.
The Grey Horse (The Master) 
Gulliver’s master in the Country of the Houyhnhnms.
Lilliputians
They are the inhabitants of Lilliput and are around five to six inches tall. They are the sworn enemies of the Blefuscudians of a neighboring island.
Munodi
He’s the Balnibarbi Lord who shows Gulliver around and makes him understand why the island is so barren.
Don Pedro
He’s the captain of the Portuguese ship that picks Gulliver up after his voyage to the country of the Houyhnhnms.
The Queen
The Queen of Brobdingnag happens to think that Gulliver is very entertaining. Since she has a huge size, Gulliver feels disgusted when she eats.
Redresal
Gulliver’s friend in Lilliput. He helps Gulliver get comfortable in the strange new land and also helps to reduce Gulliver’s punishment for treason from execution to having his eyes put out.
Skyresh Bolgolam
High admiral of Lilliput, a counselor of the Emperor.
Yahoos
This is the Houyhnhnms’ word for humans. Yahoos in the country of the Houyhnhnms are repulsive creatures.
The Struldbruggs
It is a race of humans who grow older and never die, so they are immortal. However, their immortality does not have any of its supposed delights.
The Academy Projectors (Professors) 
Balnibarbian reformers who come up with reform ideas without considering effects.
Slamecksan
The Low-Heels, a Lilliputian political group similar to the British Whigs. The king orders that all government administrators need to be selected from this party, much to the anger of the High-Heels of the realm. Therefore, while there are fewer Slamecksan than Tramecksan in Lilliput, their political power is greater.

More About Gulliver's Travels

Gulliver goes on four separate voyages in Gulliver's Travels. Each journey is preceded by a storm. All four voyages bring new perspectives to Gulliver's life and new opportunities for satirizing the ways of England.
The first voyage is to Lilliput, where Gulliver is huge and the Lilliputians are small. At first the Lilliputians seem amiable, but the reader soon sees them for the ridiculous and petty creatures they are. Gulliver is convicted of treason for "making water" in the capital (even though he was putting out a fire and saving countless lives)--among other "crimes."
The second voyage is to Brobdingnag, a land of Giants where Gulliver seems as small as the Lilliputians were to him. Gulliver is afraid, but his keepers are surprisingly gentle. He is humiliated by the King when he is made to see the difference between how England is and how it ought to be. Gulliver realizes how revolting he must have seemed to the Lilliputians.
Gulliver's third voyage is to Laputa (and neighboring Luggnagg and Glubdugdribb). In a visit to the island of Glubdugdribb, Gulliver is able to call up the dead and discovers the deceptions of history. In Laputa, the people are over-thinkers and are ridiculous in other ways. Also, he meets the Stuldbrugs, a race endowed with immortality. Gulliver discovers that they are miserable.
His fourth voyage is to the land of the Houyhnhnms, who are horses endowed with reason. Their rational, clean, and simple society is contrasted with the filthiness and brutality of the Yahoos, beasts in human shape. Gulliver reluctantly comes to recognize their human vices. Gulliver stays with the Houyhnhnms for several years, becoming completely enamored with them to the point that he never wants to leave. When he is told that the time has come for him to leave the island, Gulliver faints from grief. Upon returning to England, Gulliver feels disgusted about other humans, including his own family.


Read More

Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe Summary

Tags: , ,

Robinson Crusoe, as a young and impulsive wanderer, defied his parents and went to sea. He was involved in a series of violent storms at sea and was warned by the captain that he should not be a seafaring man. Ashamed to go home, Crusoe boarded another ship and returned from a successful trip to Africa. Taking off again, Crusoe met with bad luck and was taken prisoner in Sallee. His captors sent Crusoe out to fish, and he used this to his advantage and escaped, along with a slave.


He was rescued by a Portuguese ship and started a new adventure. He landed in Brazil, and, after some time, he became the owner of a sugar plantation. Hoping to increase his wealth by buying slaves, he aligned himself with other planters and undertook a trip to Africa in order to bring back a shipload of slaves. After surviving a storm, Crusoe and the others were shipwrecked. He was thrown upon shore only to discover that he was the sole survivor of the wreck.

Crusoe made immediate plans for food, and then shelter, to protect himself from wild animals. He brought as many things as possible from the wrecked ship, things that would be useful later to him. In addition, he began to develop talents that he had never used in order to provide himself with necessities. Cut off from the company of men, he began to communicate with God, thus beginning the first part of his religious conversion. To keep his sanity and to entertain himself, he began a journal. In the journal, he recorded every task that he performed each day since he had been marooned.

As time passed, Crusoe became a skilled craftsman, able to construct many useful things, and thus furnished himself with diverse comforts. He also learned about farming, as a result of some seeds which he brought with him. An illness prompted some prophetic dreams, and Crusoe began to reappraise his duty to God. Crusoe explored his island and discovered another part of the island much richer and more fertile, and he built a summer home there.
One of the first tasks he undertook was to build himself a canoe in case an escape became possible, but the canoe was too heavy to get to the water. He then constructed a small boat and journeyed around the island. Crusoe reflected on his earlier, wicked life, disobeying his parents, and wondered if it might be related to his isolation on this island.

After spending about fifteen years on the island, Crusoe found a man's naked footprint, and he was sorely beset by apprehensions, which kept him awake many nights. He considered many possibilities to account for the footprint and he began to take extra precautions against a possible intruder. Sometime later, Crusoe was horrified to find human bones scattered about the shore, evidently the remains of a savage feast. He was plagued again with new fears. He explored the nature of cannibalism and debated his right to interfere with the customs of another race.

Crusoe was cautious for several years, but encountered nothing more to alarm him. He found a cave, which he used as a storage room, and in December of the same year, he spied cannibals sitting around a campfire. He did not see them again for quite some time.
Later, Crusoe saw a ship in distress, but everyone was already drowned on the ship and Crusoe remained companionless. However, he was able to take many provisions from this newly wrecked ship. Sometime later, cannibals landed on the island and a victim escaped. Crusoe saved his life, named him Friday, and taught him English. Friday soon became Crusoe's humble and devoted slave.

Crusoe and Friday made plans to leave the island and, accordingly, they built another boat. Crusoe also undertook Friday's religious education, converting the savage into a Protestant. Their voyage was postponed due to the return of the savages. This time it was necessary to attack the cannibals in order to save two prisoners since one was a white man. The white man was a Spaniard and the other was Friday's father. Later the four of them planned a voyage to the mainland to rescue sixteen compatriots of the Spaniard. First, however, they built up their food supply to assure enough food for the extra people. Crusoe and Friday agreed to wait on the island while the Spaniard and Friday's father brought back the other men.

A week later, they spied a ship but they quickly learned that there had been a mutiny on board. By devious means, Crusoe and Friday rescued the captain and two other men, and after much scheming, regained control of the ship. The grateful captain gave Crusoe many gifts and took him and Friday back to England. Some of the rebel crewmen were left marooned on the island.

Crusoe returned to England and found that in his absence he had become a wealthy man. After going to Lisbon to handle some of his affairs, Crusoe began an overland journey back to England. Crusoe and his company encountered many hardships in crossing the mountains, but they finally arrived safely in England. Crusoe sold his plantation in Brazil for a good price, married, and had three children. Finally, however, he was persuaded to go on yet another voyage, and he visited his old island, where there were promises of new adventures to be found in a later account.

Read More
Subscribe to: Posts ( Atom )

Popular Posts