Book review "Gulliver's travels" by Jonathan Swift

💃"Gulliver's travels"😜

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I saw a caricature of Gulliver in Lilliput when I was a tiny child and had firmly formed the impression, as do many others, that this was a children's novel. After reading the book, I can say that it is the most un-book children's I have ever read!

Jonathan Swift, a priest, wrote Gulliver's Travels in 1725 as a parody of the popular romantic trip journals of the time. This was one of his assignments as part of a writer's group that crafted a spoof of popular genres. Because of its magical features, it quickly became renowned as a children's novel after its release, but the Whig party was outraged when they realized it was political satire.

Gulliver goes on four journeys in the book. When we think of this novel, the first and most famous journey is Lilliput. Gulliver meets an extraordinary culture on each of his journeys, which he describes in detail before making extensive commentary on the politics or philosophy of that people group. The first group consists of people who are only 6 inches tall, the second of giants, the third of pseudo-scientific people, and the last of intelligent horses. There are few action scenes, but there is a lot of philosophy and dry humor.

I enjoyed the book, but I can't imagine a child under the age of 13 getting much out of it. It would be like referring to Utopia as a children's book. The dialogues dissect human nature in every way possible. A young reader would struggle to see the irony and satire in how governments are run or how institutional academia is mocked.

Wikipedia has a very informative article about this book, but it seems to miss the book's themes. Because this novel covers so many topics, it is difficult to distill its message. In the most ridiculous ways, the book criticizes everyone and everything. Gulliver is brought from a sense of pride in civilized man to a realization of how base and animal-like we are.

He investigates the absurdity of the law, politics, academic institutions, and pure greed. Each government he encounters feels better than his own in some ways, but their excesses and absurdities only serve to highlight why we do things the way we do.

When Gulliver returns from his journeys, he becomes increasingly unable to function in normal society. Is he insane or suffering from reverse culture shock? We honestly don't know. The reader is never told what to think about Gulliver's experiences. Some casual readers may miss the irony of various sections designed to highlight the ridiculousness of others. Because no conclusions are reached, it is a book to chew on and ponder.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Utopia, 1984, or Animal Farm. This is NOT something I would recommend to a child. It's a classic for a reason, but not in the way most people think of it. It's an interesting look at what it means to be a modern human.😘😘😘

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