Deeper than the basic fable in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels lies annotations rich with universal insight. In each of Gulliver's journeys, one can find satire, metaphors, and commentary relating to society as seen by Swift. Swift's misanthropic views are personified via the people met by Gulliver during his adventure. Ridicule of human nature and government can be interpreted in all of Gulliver's voyages.
Gulliver awoke to find himself in the midst of his first journey after being shipwrecked. The tiny inhabitants of Lilliput, standing no more than six inches tall, anchored him to shore. This act of tying Gulliver down represented both misanthropic beliefs and the social order Swift observed in England. Using restraints with Gulliver showed that the Lilliputians did not trust him, illustrating the basic principles of misanthropy. Lulliput was also Swift's comparison to England at the time, in the sense that England was a small force that had a large influence in Europe. Despite England's size, it could conquer larger powers, as the Lilliputians harnessing the large intruder. At the same time, the unexpected infringement of giant Gulliver onto the Lilliputians" well-developed civilization was a message to the European society that size and strength are always relative, and there is no way for Europe to be certain that a Gulliver-like giant might not arrive and conquer them at any moment.
As time progressed, Gulliver and the Lilliputians became affable with one another. Gulliver found that the Lilliputian society is based around trivial issues when he and the Emperor shared insight into how each country ran. The practice the Lilliputians used to elect officials, the rope dances, was satirical to the manner in which England elected prime ministers at the time. Additionally, the causes of the Lilliputian war with a neighboring country, Blefuscu, were extremely trifling.
