As everybody knows, our country is in complete lockdown due
to the coronavirus. During this lockdown period, I read the famous book ‘Gulliver’s
travels’ written by Jonathan Swift. Jonathan Swift was born in Dublin in 1667.
In 1704, he published anonymously ‘A tale of a tub’ with ‘The battle of the
books’-the former being a brilliant satire on Roman Catholics and on
Calvinists. He has been called the earliest and greatest of journalists and the
prince of leader-writers. Gulliver’s Travels is by far his most famous work.
The story is about the unfortunate voyages of Lemuel
Gulliver to Lilliput, where he was the biggest person, and to Brobdingnag,
where he was the smallest person. This book actually has four volumes, but only
the two volumes which are most popular, ‘A Voyage To Lilliput’ and ‘A Voyage To
Brobdingnag’ are mentioned. This story has been enjoyed by people of all ages
for the last 250 years and whilst it will make us laugh, it will also make us
think.
In this story, Lemuel Gulliver is a surgeon working in a
ship. Once his ship got caught in a terrible storm and sank. He somehow
survived this terrible disaster and after being adrift in the sea for a while,
reached Lilliput, an island where everyone was very small. He stayed there for
a few months peacefully, being on good terms with the king. But soon everyone
started conspiring against him. When he heard this, he escaped to Blefuscu,
Lilliput’s enemy, where he found a boat which he used to get back home. Then, continuing his job, he again got caught
in a shipwreck after which he reached Brobdingnag, where everyone was very big.
He stayed there also for a few months,
after which he escaped when a gigantic eagle swooped his house away in its
talons and dropped it in the ocean, where a ship found him and took him back
home.
In my opinion, this was an outstanding book in all aspects.
It makes us laugh at some times, but it also makes us think. I think, by this
book, the author is trying to point out the prejudices in our society. He is
trying to tell us about the different ways in which different people are
treated, for example, some people are of high status while some are of low
status, some rich and some poor etc, just like Gulliver was treated differently
in Lilliput and Brobdingnag. So, I would conclude by saying that this book is a
must-read and is one of the best and greatest books ever written.
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