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Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels - Coggle Diagram
Jonathan Swift
Life
Born in Ireland, English parents.
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Early satires: The Battle of the Books, A Tale of a Tub.
Returned to Ireland (1694), became priest, Dean of St Patrick’s (1713).
Helped poor, wrote pamphlets exposing Ireland’s suffering (Drapier’s Letters).
Major works: Gulliver’s Travels (1726), A Modest Proposal (1729).
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Controversies
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Conservative, concerned with politics and society.
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Style
Master of irony, allegory, and satire.
Simple, clear style → effective parody.
Satire exposes human faults, teaches moral lessons, critiques society.
Gulliver’s Travels
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Gulliver = observer + critic, gradually disillusioned
Style = simple, precise, ironic, first-person, realistic
Satire = exaggeration, distortion, contrasting perspectives
Themes: human folly, limits of reason, cultural critique, moral reflection
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Part I – Lilliput
Gulliver shipwrecked in Lilliput, tiny people (6-inch).
Learns language, gains king’s favor, many adventures, returns home.
Part II – Brobdingnag
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Faces huge animals, becomes queen’s pet, talks about England, escapes, returns home.
Part III – Laputa
Shipwrecked, reaches flying island of scientists.
Sees absurd experiments, unhappy immortals, eventually back to England.
Part IV – Houyhnhnms
Land of intelligent horses, humans = Yahoos.
Gulliver admires horses, ashamed of humans, banished, returns but prefers horses.