Write a critical note on Gulliver’s Travels (Book II) as a satire.

Write a critical note on Gulliver’s Travels (Book II) as a satire.

In "Gulliver's Travels" by Jonathan Swift, the titular traveler learns much about the follies of mankind as he sails around the world, discovering new land. Gulliver visits four places, each interesting and strange in their own way. Swift uses each experience to satirize government, human pride, religion, philosophy, scientific conceit, among other things. In the land of Brobdingnag, Gulliver encounters a race of giants, and their size and their views on government prove to be effective satirical tools.

Human Pride

Just as Swift used the size of the Lilliputians in Gulliver's previous travels to mock their pettiness, so too does he use the size of the Brobdingnagdians to mock their pride and pretension. Swift satirizes their desire to have a large government and to assert their own importance. Though Gulliver is of smaller stature, Swift also uses this setting to satirize his own pride and, by extension, the pride of the English people. When the king asks Gulliver to tell him about the English government, Gulliver happily complies with the idea that he will impress the king with the accomplishments of his native land. However, the king concludes they are a "pernicious race of little odious vermin."

Modern Warfare

Of note in the exchange between Gulliver and the king about the English government is his reaction to its ideas about warfare. Gulliver expects the king to be impressed with the large English army, but the king was amazed at the idea the government would have a standing army when they were at peace and lived in a free country. Gulliver also expects the king to be impressed by his description of gun powder and weapons, but the king was horrified that Gulliver seemed unmoved by the bloodshed caused by "those destructive machines." The discussion serves to satirize the senselessness and destruction of modern warfare................................................................................................................

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