satiric techniques of gulliver

Gulliver’s Travels has adopted the reputation of a humorous and critical satire.

A satire acts as a literary piece of work that diminishes the subject to a point of ridicule and amusement to the reader. It uses comic relief to ease its content and can act as an aid to human folly and vice. Jonathan Swift, the author of this book, used many satiric techniques to tell this story including the stranger in a strange land motif. With the publication of this very controversial work, many loved is as either a biting satire or a comical adventure. As Gulliver travels to four different lands, the satiric techniques enhance the story. Following the stranger in a strange land motif Gulliver first arrives at the land of Lilliput. First, he finds himself a stranger in a strange miniature land of miniature people. Secondly, Gulliver finds himself a stranger in a strange land of giants. The third adventure, he arrives as a stranger at the strange land of Laputa, a floating island. Finally, on Gulliver’s fourth adventure he arrives again as a stranger in a land full of horses or Houyhnhnms and Yahoos. These four lands take the reader on an exciting and adventuresome journey through Gu

lliver’s many trials and strange situations. The stranger in a strange land motif follows Gulliver as he travels from one strange land to the next.

Gulliver’s Travels definitely represents one of many great satires. Through Gulliver’s many interesting travels, Swift ridicules the Europeans and their way of life. In every world, Gulliver finds himself a stranger in a new strange land. The Lilliputians, Brobdingnags, and Houyhnhnms all help Swift use the stranger in a strange land motif to create a great satire.

As Gulliver continues his travels he travels through the floating island of Laputa and finally he comes to a land of Houyhnhnms. These horses “live entirely by reason except for a few well-controlled and muted social affections.”(Swift2330) The horses have intelligence and seem to live in peacefulness. The horses represent the model for which Gulliver strives to follow. They differ greatly from most of Swift’s victims but still face as much ridicule as the characters. The horses live a dull, simple, and lifeless life. They live without the complexity of humans. Their whole system of living seems perfect only because they lack what makes human life rich. Their world also includes a race called the Yahoos, “whose bodies are obscene caricatures of the human body and who have no glimmer of reason but are mere creatures of appetite and passion.”(Swift2330) These creatures represent a satire to humans. They appear untamed and unruly and live a barbaric life. Gulliver struggles to identify himself with these creatures and looks upon them with disgust throughout the story. The reader realizes at the end of the story that these Yahoos really represent humans. Finally, through this satire we see the changes that Gulliver endures. This last world pleases Gulliver who eventually leaves through force. In the first three voyages, the reader can relate and understand Gulliver, however; in this last voyage, Gulliver exists far from most humans. This shift in our loyalty to Gulliver also shifts the method of satire. The reader watches Gulliver as he falls in love with the Houyhnhnms world of simplicity. This last

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