“How does Gulliver communicate with the Lilliputians?” is a question that astonishes even the most experienced fiction writer. The Lilliputians live in a bizarre society where most people are loopy, and focuses on trivial matters. In fact, the society is so utterly bizarre that it has engaged in military warfare with a neighbouring society. They also crack eggs at the other end of the spectrum. As a result, Gulliver doesn’t quite fit in.
Gestures
How does Gulliver communicate with the Lilliputians? In the novel, Gulliver washes ashore after a shipwreck. He is then captured by tiny people who live in the island country of Lilliput. Once he gains their trust, Gulliver is given the right to roam around their land and communicate with their subjects. However, he must obey certain restrictions.
The Lilliputians are hospitable to Gulliver, but they are wary of him and his size. They place a high importance on trivial matters and pride themselves on their ability to subjugate the neighboring Blefuscudians. Gulliver steals the Blefuscudian fleet and refuses to make it part of Lilliput.
Later on, Gulliver encounters a magician who can communicate with the lilliputians through the use of olfactory senses. He visits an island called Glubbdubdrib, southwest of Lilliput. In this island, Gulliver meets the ghosts of historical figures, including Julius Caesar, Homer, Aristotle, and Pierre Gassendi. The island is a paradise, and Gulliver learns how to mix paints by smelling them. He learns how to mix paint by smell, and uncovers political conspiracies by examining excrement.
Signs
In “The Importance of Being Earnest”, Gulliver visits the flying island of Laputa, where the inhabitants are fanatical scientists. They practice ludicrous experiments like extracting sunlight from vegetables. They are also surrounded by scientific symbols and wear eyeglasses that point toward astrological signs. They have so many irrational beliefs that they can’t even see straight. They have sacrificed their common sense for reason.
As a result, the Blefuscu war is absurd. In contrast, the Lilliputians symbolize human pride. Gulliver is unable to diagnose his own pride. The Lilliputians’ grand parade shows the absurdity of the human attitude towards pride, which makes it a point to highlight the inability to diagnose human pride. This theme is repeated throughout the novel.
In a second chapter, Gulliver reaches Lilliput by swimming ashore after a shipwreck. The small boat he was sailing hit a rock near Van Diemen’s Land. The waves swamped his small vessel. Although he swam ashore safely, he was terribly tired, so he fell into a deep sleep for several hours.
Symbols
The novel’s central conflict involves the emperor of Lilliput and his desire to rule the world with absolute power. The emperor of Lilliput wants Gulliver to capture and destroy his entire fleet and to become the sole monarch of his new world. The Lilliputians are hospitable to Gulliver, but he is far larger than any of them. Gulliver must make the decision between the two cultures.
Throughout the novel, the author plays with language to create satires on European practices. One such example is the inventory of Gulliver’s possessions, which the Lilliputians treat like a serious matter of state. These inventories are presented in the Lilliputians’ own words, and mock the way humans take themselves too seriously. As a result, Gulliver must sign formal documents in order to prove his worth, and his inability to diagnose pride has been pointed out by the Lilliputians.
The Houyhnhnms also use a variety of symbols to communicate with Gulliver. They are not infallible, but they serve a useful purpose in the novel. The Houyhnhnms, for example, are clever imitations of Augustans, who dedicated their lives to reason. They base everything on scientific principles.
Lemuel Gulliver’s oath to print adventures in truth
A physician by training, Lemuel Gulliver is unable to earn enough money as a doctor in London. He takes a job as surgeon on a ship. However, during his fourth voyage, he becomes stranded on Lilliput island, where he meets tiny people who tangle him up and shoot him. Gulliver’s oath to print adventures in truth is one of his first literary achievements.
In his book, Gulliver encounters different cultures and social classes. He learns about the Houyhnhnms and their society. Houyhnms don’t have vices and are governed by reason. People aren’t known for their love. Gulliver compares human beings to Yahoos, but believes that humans are much more evil.
The character is portrayed as a bumbling fool by many readers, but this is not the case in Lemuel Gulliver. The Brobdingnagian king is horrified by the idea of gunpowder, calling his people odious vermin. The Houyhnhnm don’t even understand the concept of lying, and they are shocked to learn that humans are enslaving humanoid Yahoos and horses.
Jonathan Swift’s satire
In his satire of England’s early eighteenth-century government, Jonathan Swift depicts the Lilliputians as smug and petty. His Lilliputians are smaller than Gulliver, but were ten times bigger than him. This contrast highlights the treachery of the English government. Swift mocks his critics, while at the same time contrasting the beauty and cruelty of human life.
In Gulliver’s travels, he encounters many races of narrow-minded people. The Lilliputians fight over cutting eggs, while the Houyhnhnms cannot see anything but their own squabbles. Swift satirizes people who cannot see beyond their own enclave. In this way, the readers will recognize themselves in these characters.
In Gulliver’s first adventure, the Houyhnhnms are curious about European culture, but they are especially interested in the ways of the English. Gulliver finds it hard to explain English politics, revealing that he feels uncomfortable with explaining such things to them. In this way, the entire satire is a critique of English society.
