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E211: British Literature to 1760 Jonathan Swift Study Questions Alfred J. Drake. Office: Hum. 520 | W 3-4 | ajdrake@ajdrake.com Gulliver's Travels Part 1 1. How does Gulliver appear to regard his own story's publication--what effect, if any, does he expect it will have on readers? (2331 ff) 2. What first led Gulliver to follow the course of life he did--that of an adventurer and traveler? Do his motives change as time passes? Explain. (2335 ff) 3. Gulliver's first meeting is with the tiny Lilliputians. How would you compare their characteristics and practices with those of Gulliver's society, Britain and Europe generally? Are the Lilliputians better, worse, the same? Explain you reasoning, with specific reference to a few brief episodes in Part 1. Part 2 4. In what sense is Gulliver diminished in more than size when he meets up with the giant Brobdingnagians? What does the king, for example, think of him around 2385? And what does Gulliver come to think of himself as the second part of the text proceeds? 5. How does Swift's depiction of the Brobdingnagians reflect on ordinary humans like his readership and us? As a general question, what do you think the point of a fiction like Swift's might be? What is accomplished by so many strange comparisons between creatures of different size and shape? 6. From 2400-03, how does the King react to Gulliver's description of his native Britain? Is the King's realm similar to or very different from what Gulliver has described on behalf of England? Part 3 7. In his account of the Lagado Academy, what basic philosophical position is Gulliver mocking? To what extent do you think that Gulliver's Travels as a whole (or rather the parts we are reading) counters this philosophy? 8. How does Gulliver's account of the long-lived Struldbruggs deal with the problem of desire? What error or errors does this account suggest is the cause of much human folly and failure? (2423 ff) Part 4 9. What sort of society are the Houyhnhnms? How, for instance, do they resemble the famous Spartans of ancient Greek days? What is the guiding power in Houyhnhnm life? Are these horses flawed or incomplete in any way, or are they perfect? 10. What view of humanity emerges from the comparison Gulliver is forced to make between himself and his near-twins the Yahoos? How are the Yahoos to be differentiated from Europeans like Gulliver, if indeed they are different at all? What has happended to Gulliver's self-image and self-respect by the time he returns to England? Edition: Abrams, M.H. et al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vols. 1A, 1B, 1C. 7th. edition. New York: Norton, 2000. ISBN #'s: 1A = 0393975657, 1B = 0393975665, 1C = 0393975673.
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