“Gulliver’s Travels” Key Facts

v    Author:  Jonathan Swift

v    Type of work:  Novel   

v    Genre:  Satire    

v    Language:  English

v    Time and place written: approximately 1712–1726, London and Dublin

v    Narrator:  Lemuel Gulliver

v    Point of view: Gulliver speaks in the first person. He describes other characters and actions as they appear to him.

v    Tone: Gulliver’s tone is gullible and naïve during the first three voyages; in the fourth, it turns cynical and bitter. The intention of the author, Jonathan Swift, is satirical and biting throughout.

v    Tense: Past

v    Setting (time):  Early eighteenth century

v    Setting (place):  Primarily England and the imaginary countries of Lilliput, Blefuscu, Brobdingnag, Laputa, and the land of the Houyhnhnms

v    Protagonist:  Lemuel Gulliver

v    Major conflict: On the surface, Gulliver strives to understand the various societies with which he comes into contact and to have these societies understand his native England. Below the surface, Swift is engaged in a conflict with the English society he is satirizing.

v    Rising action: Gulliver’s encounters with other societies eventually lead up to his rejection of human society in the fourth voyage

v    Climax: Gulliver rejects human society in the fourth voyage, specifically when he shuns the generous Don Pedro as a vulgar Yahoo

v    Falling action: Gulliver’s unhappy return to England accentuates his alienation and compels him to buy horses, which remind him of Houyhnhnms, to keep him company

v    Themes: Might versus right; the individual versus society; the limits of human understanding

v    Motifs: Excrement; foreign languages; clothing

v    Symbols: Lilliputians; Brobdingnagians; Laputans; Houyhnhnms; England

v    Foreshadowing: Gulliver’s experiences with various flawed societies foreshadow his ultimate rejection of human society in the fourth voyage.

Source: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gulliver/facts.html