"The bulk of the people are as ignorant of the motives and reasons for most of their own actions, as a wooden puppet cut out into the form of a man."
-Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels
Hello guys, I hope you all are fine. I was so busy that I could not share a book review these days, but I am back, and I am going to share a book review of Gulliver's Travels, which is written by Jonathan Swift in 1726.
This is almost a three hundred year old book, and it is still taught in so many different universities. It was one of my course books in my university. I have done my graduation in English literature, this is how I bumped upon this book.
It is such an amazing book, and I am going to share something of a review about this book.
I was telling you that this is almost three centuries old book. It was written so many years ago, and this is still so relatable, which makes it a timeless classic. It is basically a satire of human nature.
Let me explain satire first. Satire is uh harmless and funny and humorous criticism of anything. Whenever a person is trying to satire someone, he or she tries to put forth the flaws in that very thing or a person in the satire. There are so many different techniques of satire, but I am not going to go into the details.
So, Gulliver is the main character of the story, who voyages and travels and journeys to different lands and meets different people, exploring their cultures, identities, their problems. He explores human nature. It is very exciting to know that the culture of Lilliput, who are very short people, tiny people. He notices absurdity and politics in the society of Lilliput. He also travels to the giants and explores their nature of human beings. Jonathan Swift has satired human nature, mainly the political aspect of it.
So, Jonathan Swift has a writing style which is engaging and masterful. By engaging, I mean that once you start reading this book, you will feel it's so relatable that you will be interested and lost in the pages.
Jonathan Swift has crafted the character of Gulliver so cleverly and skillfully that his naivety, good-naturedness makes him both relatable and endearing.
And I have noticed that there are so many different movies based on this novel as well, and I would recommend this book to my friends here, and I hope that you will read this book and enjoy it.
Here are my favourite lines from the book.
*"But when a great office is vacant, either by death or disgrace, which often happens; five or six of those candidates petition the Emperor to entertain his Majesty and the court with a dance on the rope; and whoever jumps the highest without falling, succeeds in the appointment."
- Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels (Book 1, Chapter 3)*
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