Lemuel Gulliver, a realistic Englishman who was trained as a surgeon, embarks on a journey across the ocean after his business fails, as told in Gulliver's Travels. Gulliver recounts the misadventures that occur to him on these journeys in a deadpan first-person narrative that hardly ever demonstrates any symptoms of self-reflection or intense emotional response.
When Gulliver wakes up after his shipwreck, he discovers that he is bound by many tiny threads and being addressed by tiny captors who are awestruck by him but fiercely protective of their realm. This is the beginning of Gulliver's voyage in Lilliput. Despite the fact that their arrows are hardly more than pinpricks, they are not afraid to employ violence against Gulliver. They risk hunger in their country by feeding Gulliver, who eats more than a thousand Lilliputians could, although they are generally friendly. Gulliver is transported into the capital by a huge waggon that the Lilliputians made specifically for the purpose. Gulliver entertains the emperor while presenting him to him, and he is touched by the attention of royalty. The army eventually uses Gulliver as a national asset in its conflict with the Blefuscuans, whom the Lilliputians despise for holding different views on how to crack eggs. However, all changes when Gulliver is found guilty of treason for using his urine to put out a fire in the royal palace and is sentenced to die by being shot in the eyes and starved. Gulliver manages to get away to Blefuscu, where he may fix a boat he discovers and set sail for England.
After spending two months in England with his wife and family, Gulliver sets out on his second sea journey, which will lead him to a place known as Brobdingnag, a realm of giants. He is found by a field worker here. He is initially kept by the farmer as nothing more than an animal for entertainment. In the end, the farmer sells Gulliver to the queen, who gives him a courtly amusement and enjoys his musical abilities. After being discovered by the court, Gulliver has an easy but unenjoyable social life. The physique of the Brobdingnagians, whose common defects are many times amplified by their enormous stature, frequently repulses Gulliver. He is therefore repelled by their large skin pores and the sound of their torrential urinating when a couple of courtly women allow him to play on their nude bodies instead of attracted to them. He is often astounded by how ignorant everyone here is—not even the monarch is knowledgeable about politics. More unsettling discoveries in Brobdingnag include different animals from the realm that put his life in risk. He has trouble eating because even Brobdingnagian insects leave slimy trails on their food. Gulliver is travelling with the royal couple to the frontier when his cage is taken by an eagle and thrown into the water, forcing him to abandon Brobdingnag.
Gulliver then sets ship once more and, following a pirate attack, arrives in Laputa, where a floating island named Balnibarbi, populated by theorists and academics, oppresses the country below. The scientific research carried out in Laputa and Balnibarbi is completely absurd and unworkable, and its inhabitants also seem completely disconnected from reality. Gulliver takes a quick detour to Glubbdubdrib where he witnesses the reenactment of historical characters like Julius Caesar and other military leaders, who he finds to be much less impressive than in books. He is able to sail to Japan and from there back to England after seeing the Luggnaggians and the Struldbrugs, the latter of which are senile immortals who demonstrate that growing older does not bring wisdom. Finally, on his fourth expedition, Gulliver sets sail as the ship's captain. However, following a crew revolt and a lengthy incarceration in his cabin, he arrives in an uncharted territory. Houyhnhnms, the intelligent horses who dominate this land, are here, along with Yahoos, the vicious, human-like animals who work for the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver begins to learn their language, and once he can communicate, he tells them about his travels and explains how England is governed. He has many chats with the horses and learns about their noble culture while being treated with the utmost respect and kindness by them.
He wishes to remain with the Houyhnhnms, but is exiled when the horses notice that he resembles a Yahoo much due to his exposed body. Despite being inconsolable, Gulliver decides to go. Making a canoe out of scrap materials, he travels to a nearby island where he is picked up by a Portuguese ship captain who treats him well. However, Gulliver cannot help but now view the captain—and all humans—as embarrassingly Yahoolike. Gulliver ends his account by asserting that, despite his doubts about colonialism in general, the places he has travelled to are legally England's colonies.
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