Summary: Chapter VI
Gulliver describes the general customs and practices of
Lilliput in more detail, beginning by explaining that everything
in Lilliput— their animals, trees, and plants—is sized in proportion
to the Lilliputians. Their eyesight is also adapted to their scale:
Gulliver cannot see as clearly close-up as they can, while they
cannot see as far as he can.
The Lilliputians are well educated, but their writing
system is odd to Gulliver, who jokes that they write not left to
right like the Europeans or top to bottom like the Chinese, but
from one corner of the page to the other, “like the ladies in England.”
The dead are buried with their heads pointing directly
downward, because the Lilliputians believe that eventually the dead
will rise again and that the Earth, which they think is flat, will
turn upside down. Gulliver adds that the better-educated Lilliputians
no longer believe in this custom.
Gulliver describes some of the other laws of Lilliput,
such as a tradition by which anyone who falsely accuses someone
else of a crime against the state is put to death. Deceit is considered
worse than theft, because honest people are more vulnerable to liars
than to thieves, since commerce requires people to trust one another.
The law provides not only for punishment but also for rewards of
special titles and privileges for good behavior.
Children are raised not by individual parents but by
the kingdom as a whole. They are sent to live in schools at a very
young age. The schools are chosen according to the station of their
parents, whom they see only twice a year. Only the laborers’ children
stay home, since their job is to farm. There are no beggars at all,
since the poor are well looked after.
Summary: Chapter VII
Gulliver goes on to describe the “intrigue” that precipitates
his departure from Lilliput. While he prepares to make his trip
to Blefuscu, a court official tells Gulliver that he has been charged
with treason by enemies in the government. He shows Gulliver the
document calling for his execution: Gulliver is charged with public
urination, refusing to obey the emperor’s orders to seize the remaining Blefuscu
ships, aiding enemy ambassadors, and traveling to Blefuscu.
