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Gulliver’s Travels

 Jonathan Swift
 

Study Questions & Essay Topics

 

Study Questions

 
1. How does Swift use language and style for the purpose of satire? How does his style change as the story progresses?
 
 
2. Does Gulliver change as the story progresses? Does he learn from his adventures?
 
 
3. Is Gulliver an everyman figure or does he have a distinctive personality of his own?
 
 
 

Suggested Essay Topics

 
1. Why is Gulliver so eager to assert his own country's importance to the Brobdingnagians? How does this desire compare to the Lilliputians' desire to assert their importance to Gulliver?
 
2. What is the significance, if any, of the order in which Gulliver's journeys take place? How does each adventure build on the previous one?
 
3. What is the allegorical significance of the floating island of Laputa?
 
4. Why does Gulliver keep traveling despite his many misfortunes?
 
5. Why does Gulliver want to stay with the Houyhnhnms? Does his desire make sense in light of the other societies he has visited?
 
6. How do the Lilliputians view the threat that Gulliver represents?
 
 
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