English Literature books summary

below suffer from poverty and hunger. On the ground a scientific academy is

similarly concerned with the most impractical projects; the value of

academia is challenged by their ineptitude.

Finally, Gulliver travels to a country populated by intelligent

horses, the Houyhnhnms, and the brutish, human-like Yahoos who serve them.

During his stay, he is treated like a Yahoo and comes to think of his own

European society as being not that different from theirs. He wants to stay

with the Houyhnhnms, but he is eventually banished from their company for

resembling a Yahoo. Knowing that the ways of his people are awed and

irrational, he finds it very difficult to return home to England.

Part I, Chapter 1

Summary

The novel begins with Lemuel Gulliver recounting the story of his

life, beginning with his family history. He was born to a family in

Nottinghamshire, the third of five sons. Although he studied at Cambridge

as a teenager, his family was too poor to keep him there, so he was sent to

London to be a surgeon's apprentice. There, he learned mathematics and

navigation with the hope of travelling. When his apprenticeship ended, he

studied physics at Leyden.

He then became a surgeon aboard a ship called The Swallow for three

years. Afterwards, he settled in London, working as a doctor, and married a

woman named Mary Burton. His business began to fail when his patron died,

so he decided to go to sea again and travelled for six years. Although he

had planned to return home, he decided to accept one last job on a ship

called The Antelope.

Here the background information ends and Gulliver's story really

begins. In the East Indies, The Antelope encounters a violent storm in

which twelve crewmen die. Six of the crew members, including Gulliver,

board a small rowboat to escape. Soon the rowboat capsizes, and Gulliver

loses track of his companions; they are never seen again. Gulliver,

however, swims safely to shore.

He lies down on the grass to rest and soon falls asleep. When he wakes

up he finds that his arms, legs, and long hair have been tied to the ground

with ropes bound across the rest of his body. Tied as he is, he can only

look up, and the bright sun prevents him from seeing anything. He feels

something move across his leg and over his chest. He looks down at it and

sees, to his surprise, a six-inch-tall human carrying a bow and arrow. At

least forty more little people climb onto his body. He is surprised and

shouts loudly, frightening the little people away. They return, however,

and one of the little men cries out "Hekinah Degul."

Gulliver struggles to get loose and finally succeeds in breaking the

strings binding his left arm. He loosens the ropes tying his hair so he can

turn to the left. In response, the little people _re a volley of arrows

into his hand and violently attack his body and face. He decides that the

safest thing to do is to lie still until nightfall. The noise increases, as

the little people build a stage next to Gulliver about a foot o_ the

ground. One of them climbs onto it and makes a speech in a language that

Gulliver does not understand.

Gulliver indicates that he is hungry, and the little people bring him

baskets of meat. He devours it all, and then shows that he is thirsty, so

they bring him two large barrels of wine. Gulliver is tempted to pick up

forty or fifty of them and throw them against the ground, but he decides

that he has made them a promise of goodwill and is grateful for their

hospitality. He is also struck at their bravery, since they climb onto his

body despite his great size.

An official climbs onto Gulliver's body and tells him that he is to be

carried to the Capital City. Gulliver wants to walk, but they tell him that

that will not be permitted. Instead, they bring their largest machine; a

frame of wood raised three inches o_ the ground and carried by twenty-two

wheels.

Nine hundred men pull this cart about half a mile to the city. His left leg

is padlocked to a building, giving him only enough freedom to walk around

the building in a semicircle and lie down inside the temple.

Part I, Chapters 2-3

Summary

Chained to the building, Gulliver is finally able to stand up and view

the entire countryside, which he discovers is beautiful and rustic. The

tallest trees are seven feet tall, and the whole area looks to him like a

theatre set.

Gulliver describes his process of relieving himself, which initially

involved walking inside the building to the edge of his chain. After the

first time, he makes sure to relieve himself in open air; the sewage is

carried away in wheelbarrows by servants. He is careful to describe this

process in order to ensure that his cleanliness is known, since critics

have called it into question.

The Emperor visits from his Tower, on horseback. He orders his

servants to give Gulliver food and drink. The Emperor is dressed plainly

and carries a sword to defend himself. He and Gulliver converse, though

they cannot understand each other. Gulliver tries to speak every language

he knows, but nothing works. After two hours, Gulliver is left with a group

of soldiers guarding him. Some of them try to shoot arrows at him, and as a

punishment the Brigadier ties up six of them and places them in Gulliver's

hand. Gulliver puts five of them into his pocket and takes the fifth into

his hand. They think he is to be eaten, but Gulliver cuts loose his ropes

and sets him free. He does the same with the other five, which pleases the

Court.

After two weeks, a bed is made for Gulliver. It consists of 600 small

beds sewn together. News of his arrival also spreads throughout the

kingdom, and curious people from the villages come to see him. Meanwhile,

the government attempts to decide what is to be done with Gulliver.

Frequent Councils bring up various concerns: for instance, that he will

break loose or that he will eat enough to cause a famine. It is suggested

that they starve him or shoot him in the face to kill him, but that would

leave them with a giant corpse and a large health risk.

Officers that had witnessed Gulliver's lenient treatment of the six

offending soldiers report to the Council, and the Emperor and his Court

decide to respond with kindness. They arrange to deliver large amounts of

food to Gulliver every morning, and to supply him with servants to wait on

him, tailors to make him clothing, and teachers to instruct him in their

language.

Every morning Gulliver asks the Emperor to set him free, but he

refuses, saying that Gulliver must be patient. The Emperor also orders him

to be searched to ensure that he does not have any weapons. Gulliver agrees

to this, and the little people take an inventory of all his possessions; in

the process, all of his weapons are taken away.

Gulliver hopes to be set free, as he is getting along well with the

Lilliputians and earning their trust. The Emperor decides to entertain him

with shows, including a performance by Rope-Dancers.

Rope-Dancers are Lilliputians who are seeking employment in the

government; for the performance, which doubles as a sort of competitive

entrance examination, the candidates dance on "ropes" slender threads

suspended two feet above the ground. When a vacancy occurs, candidates

petition the Emperor entertain him with a dance; whoever jumps the highest

earns the office. The current ministers continue this practice as well, in

order to show that they have not lost their skill.

As another diversion for Gulliver, the Emperor lays three silken

threads of different colors on a table. He then holds out a stick, and

candidates are asked to leap over it or creep under it. Whoever shows the

most dexterity wins one of the ribbons.

Gulliver builds a platform from sticks and his handkerchief and

invites horsemen to exercise upon it. The Emperor greatly enjoys watching

this new entertainment, but it is cut short when a horse steps through the

handkerchief and Gulliver decides that it is too dangerous for them to keep

riding on the cloth.

Some Lilliputians discover Gulliver's hat, which had washed ashore

after him, and he asks them to bring it back. Soon after, the Emperor asks

Gulliver to pose like a Colossus, so that his troops might march under him.

Gulliver's petitions for freedom are finally answered. Gulliver must

swear to obey the articles put forth. Included in these articles are the

stipulations that he must assist the Lilliputians in times of war, survey

the land around them, help with construction, and deliver urgent messages.

Gulliver agrees and his chains are removed.

Part I, Chapters 4-5

Summary

The first thing Gulliver does after regaining his freedom is to ask to

see the city, which is called Mildendo. The residents are told to stay

indoors, and they all sit on their roofs and in their garret windows to see

him. He describes the town as being five hundred feet square, with a wall

surrounding it. The town can hold five hundred thousand people. The

Emperor's Palace is at the center, where the two large streets meet. The

Emperor wants Gulliver to see the magnificence of his palace, so Gulliver

cuts down trees to make himself a stool, which he carries around with him

so that he can sit down and see things from a shorter distance than a

standing position allows.

About two weeks after Gulliver obtains his liberty, a government

official, Reldresal, comes to see him. Gulliver offers to lie down to make

conversation easier, but Reldresal prefers to be held in Gulliver's hand.

He tells Gulliver that the kingdom is threatened by two forces, one rebel

group and one foreign empire. The rebel group exists because the kingdom is

divided into two factions, called Tramecksan and Slamecksan; the people in

the two factions are distinguished by the heights of their heels.

Reldresal tells Gulliver that the current Emperor has chosen to employ

primarily the low-heeled Slamecksan in his administration. He adds that the

Emperor himself has lower heels than all of his officials, but that his

heir has one heel higher than the other, which makes him walk unevenly. At

the same time, the Lilliputians fear an invasion from the Island of

Blefuscu, which Reldresal calls the "Other Great Empire of the Universe"

(25). He adds that the philosophers of Lilliput do not believe Gulliver's

claim that there are other countries in the world inhabited by other people

of his size, preferring to think that Gulliver dropped from the moon or a

star.

Reldresal describes the history of the two nations, starting out by

saying that it makes no mention of any other empire ever existing. The

conflict between them, he tells Gulliver, began years ago, when the

Emperor's father, then in command of the country, commanded all

Lilliputians to break their eggs on the small end first. He made this

decision after breaking an egg in the old way, large end first, and cutting

his finger. The people resented the law, and six rebellions were started in

protest. The monarchs of Blefuscu fuelled these rebellions, and when they

were over the rebels fled to that country to seek refuge. Eleven thousand

people chose death rather than submitting to the law. Many books were

written on the controversy, but books written by the Big-Endians were

banned. The government of Blefuscu accused the Lilliputians of disobeying

their religious doctrine, the Brundrecal, by breaking their eggs at the

small end. The Lilliputians argued that the doctrine reads "That all true

believers shall break their eggs at the convenient end," which could be

interpreted as the small end.

The exiles gained support in Blefuscu to launch a war against Lilliput

and were aided by rebel forces inside Lilliput. A war has been raging ever

since between the two nations, and Gulliver is asked to help defend

Lilliput against its enemies. Gulliver does not feel that it is appropriate

to intervene, but he nonetheless offers his services to the Emperor.

Gulliver then visits Blefuscu and devises a plan. He asks for cables

and bars of iron, out of which he makes hooks with cables attached. He then

walks to Blefuscu and catches their ships at port. The people are so

frightened that they leap out of their ships and swim to shore. Gulliver

attaches a hook to each ship and ties them together. While he does this the

soldiers _re arrows at him, but he keeps working. In order to protect his

eyes, he puts on the spectacles he keeps in his coat pocket. He tries to

pull the ships away, but they are anchored too tightly, so he cuts them

away with his pocketknife and pulls the ships back to Lilliput with them.

In Lilliput, Gulliver is greeted as a hero. The Emperor asks him to go

back to retrieve the other ships, intending to destroy Blefescu's military

strength and make it a province in his empire. Gulliver dissuades him from

this, saying that he does not want to encourage slavery or injustice. This

causes great disagreement in the government, with some officials turning

staunchly against Gulliver and calling for his destruction.

Three weeks later a delegation arrives from Blefuscu, and the war ends with

their surrender. They are privately told of Gulliver's kindness towards

them, and they ask him to visit their kingdom. He wishes to do so, and the

Emperor reluctantly allows it.

As a Nardac, or person of high rank, Gulliver no longer has to perform

all the duties laid down in his contract. He does, however, have the

opportunity to help the Lilliputians when the Emperor's wife's room catches

_re. He forgets his coat and cannot put the flames out with his clothing,

so instead he thinks of a new plan: he urinates on the palace, putting out

the _re entirely. He worries afterwards that, since the act of public

urination is a crime in Lilliput, he will be prosecuted, but the Emperor

tells him he will be pardoned. He is told, however, that the Emperor's wife

can no longer tolerate living in her rescued quarters.

Part I, Chapters 6-8

Summary

In these chapters, Gulliver describes the customs and character of

Lilliput in more detail, beginning by explaining that everything in

Lilliput is sized in proportion to the Lilliputians: their animals, trees,

and plants are all proportional to their own height. Their eyesight is also

adapted to their scale; Gulliver cannot see as clearly close-up as they

can, while they cannot see as far.

The Lilliputians are well-educated, but their writing system is odd to

Gulliver, who jokes that they write not left to right like the Europeans or

top to bottom like the Chinese, but from one corner of the page to the

other, "like the ladies in England."

The dead are buried with their heads pointing directly downwards,

because the Lilliputians believe that eventually the dead will rise again

and that the earth, which they think is at, will turn upside-down. Gulliver

adds that the more well-educated Lilliputians no longer believe in this

custom.

Gulliver describes some of the other laws of Lilliput, such as a

tradition by which anyone who falsely accuses someone else of a crime is

put to death.

Deceit is considered worse than theft, because honest people are more

vulnerable to liars than to thieves. The law provides not only for

punishment but also for rewards of special titles and privileges for good

behavior.

Children are raised not by individual parents but by the kingdom as a

whole. They are sent to live in schools at a very young age; the schools

are chosen according to the station of their parents, whom they see only

twice a year. Only the laborers' children stay home, since their job is to

farm. There are no beggars at all, since the poor are well looked-after.

Gulliver goes on to describe the "intrigue" that precipitates his

departure from Lilliput. While he is preparing to make his trip to

Blefuscu, a court official pays him a visit. He tells Gulliver that he has

been charged with treason by enemies in the government. He shows Gulliver

the document calling for his execution: Gulliver is charged with public

urination, refusing to obey the Emperor's orders to seize the remaining

Blefuscu ships, aiding enemy ambassadors, and travelling to Blefuscu.

Gulliver is told that Reldresal has asked for his sentence to be

reduced, calling not for execution but for putting his eyes out. This has

been agreed upon, along with a plan to starve him to death slowly. The

official tells Gulliver that the operation to blind him will take place in

three days.

Fearing this resolution, Gulliver crosses the channel and arrives in

Blefuscu. Three days later, he sees a boat of "normal" size that is, big

enough to carry Gulliver overturned in the water. He asks the emperor of

Blefuscu to help him _x it. At the same time, the emperor of Lilliput sends

an envoy with the articles commanding him to give up his eyesight. The

emperor of Blefuscu sends them back with the message that Gulliver will be

leaving both their kingdoms soon. After about a month the boat is ready and

Gulliver sets sail. He arrives safely back in England, and makes a good

profit showing miniature farm animals that he had carried away from

Blefuscu in his pockets.

Part II, Chapters 1-2

Summary

Two months after returning to England, Gulliver is restless again. He

sets sail on a ship called the Downs, travelling to the Cape of Good Hope

and Madagascar before encountering a monsoon that draws the ship o_ course.

They continue to sail, eventually arriving at an unknown land mass. They

find no inhabitants, and the landscape is barren and rocky. Gulliver is

walking back to the boat when he sees that it has already left without him.

He tries to chase after it, but then he sees that they are being followed

by a giant. Gulliver runs away; when he stops, he is on a steep hill from

which he can see the countryside. He is shocked to see that the grass is

about twenty feet high.

He walks down what looks like the high road, but turns out to be a

footpath through a field of barley. He walks for a long time, but cannot

see anything beyond the stalks of corn, which are forty feet high. He tries

to climb a set of steps into the next field, but he cannot mount them

because they are too high. As he is trying to climb up the stairs he sees

another one of the island's giant inhabitants. He hides from the giant, but

it calls for more people to come, and they begin to harvest the crop with

scythes.

Gulliver lies down and bemoans his state, thinking about how

insignificant he must be to these giant creatures.

One of the servants comes close to Gulliver with both his foot and his

scythe, so Gulliver screams as loudly as he can. The giant finally notices

him, and picks him up between his fingers to get a closer look. Gulliver

tries to speak to him in plaintive tones, bringing his hands together, and

the giant seems pleased. Gulliver makes it clear that the giant's fingers

are hurting him, and the giant places him in his pocket and begins to walk

towards his master.

His master, the farmer of these fields, takes Gulliver from his

servant and observes him more closely. He asks the other servants if they

have ever seen anything like Gulliver, and places him onto the ground. They

sit around him in a circle. Gulliver kneels down and begins to speak as

loudly as he can, taking o_ his hat and bowing to the farmer. He presents a

purse full of gold to the farmer, which he takes into his palm. He cannot

seem to figure out what it is, even after Gulliver empties the coins into

his hand.

The farmer takes him back to his wife, who is frightened of him. The

servant brings in dinner and they all sit down to eat, Gulliver sitting on

the table not far from the farmer's plate. They give him tiny bits of their

food, and he pulls out his knife and fork to eat, which delights the

giants. The farmer' son picks him up and scares him, but the farmer takes

Gulliver from his hands and strikes his son. Gulliver makes a sign that the

boy should be forgiven, and kisses his hand. After dinner, the farmer's

wife lets Gulliver nap in her own bed. When he wakes up he finds two rats

attacking him, and he defends himself with his weapon.

The farmer's nine-year-old daughter, whom Gulliver calls

Glumdalclitch, or nursemaid, has a doll's cradle, which becomes Gulliver's

permanent bed. This is placed inside a drawer to keep him away from the

rats. The girl becomes Gulliver's caretaker and guardian, sewing clothes

for him and teaching him the giants' language.

The farmer begins to talk about Gulliver in town, and a friend of the

farmer's comes to see him. He looks at Gulliver through his glasses, and

Gulliver begins to laugh at the sight of his eyes through the glass. The

man becomes angry, and advises the farmer to take Gulliver into the market

to display him. He agrees, and Gulliver is taken in a carriage, which he

finds very uncomfortable, to the town. There he is placed on a table and

the little girl sits down on a stool beside him, with thirty people at a

time walking through as he performs "tricks."

Gulliver is exhausted by the journey to the marketplace, but finds

upon returning to the farmer's house that he is to be shown there as well.

People come from miles around and are charged great sums to view him.

Thinking that Gulliver can make him a great fortune, the farmer takes him

and his daughter on a voyage to the largest cities.

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