Summary Gulliver visits the Grand Academy to observe the many experiments that are being tried out. The intent of these projects is to improve some process, product, or human behavior for the good of humanity. Gulliver studies several projects in progress — for example, trying to extract sunshine from cucumbers, […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Part III: Chapter 5Summary and Analysis Part III: Chapter 4
Summary Gulliver’s discontent with being on this Flying Island increases, and so he is lowered to Balnibarbi where he visits Munodi, at one time the Governor of the city of Lagado. Munodi shows Gulliver around the island — and a most unusual island it proves to be. Except for Munodi’s […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Part III: Chapter 4Summary and Analysis Part III: Chapter 3
Summary Gulliver’s explains how the Flying Island moves by giving what he calls “a philosophical account” of its movement capabilities. The explanation is quite complicated, but the movement principle is quite simple and is based upon magnetic forces in the Flying Island and in the country below (Balnibarbi). These forces, […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Part III: Chapter 3Summary and Analysis Part III: Chapter 2
Summary Gulliver meets the inhabitants of the Flying (Floating) Island, learns that it is called Laputa, and immediately realizes that the inhabitants are a distracted people who have a very limited attention span and very narrow interests; their main concerns are essentially mathematics and music. Gulliver observes the Laputans. Their […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Part III: Chapter 2Summary and Analysis Part III: Chapter 1
Summary Gulliver stays home only a few months before shipping out to sea again, as ship’s surgeon, on the Hopewell. On reaching the port of Tonquin, the captain appoints Gulliver and a crew of fourteen to take a sloop loaded with other goods to trade with some nearby islands, but […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Part III: Chapter 1Summary and Analysis Part II: Chapter 8
Summary Gulliver spends two years in Brobdingnag, but he is not happy despite the royal family’s pampering. He is afraid that he will never escape and will turn into a sort of domestic, albeit royal, pet. Escape seems impossible; chance, however, intervenes: On a trip to the seashore, an eagle […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Part II: Chapter 8Summary and Analysis Part II: Chapter 7
Summary Gulliver decides that the King’s lack of enthusiasm for England springs from his ignorance of the country. To remedy this, Gulliver offers to teach the King about England’s magnificence. The first lesson concerns one of England’s most valuable assets: gunpowder. Describing its effects graphically and at great length, Gulliver […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Part II: Chapter 7Summary and Analysis Part II: Chapter 6
Summary Gulliver entertains himself and demonstrates his ingenuity by using the King’s beard stubble to make a comb and by using strands of the Queen’s hair to make several chairs and a purse. In addition, Gulliver plays the spinet (piano) for the King and Queen by using sticks formed as […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Part II: Chapter 6Summary and Analysis Part II: Chapter 5
Summary Gulliver’s mishaps continue. The Queen’s dwarf drops barrel-sized apples on him; hailstones as big as tennis balls batter and bruise him; a bird of prey nearly grabs him; and a spaniel picks him up in his mouth and carries him to the royal gardener. Gulliver is insulted to be […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Part II: Chapter 5Summary and Analysis Part II: Chapter 4
Summary When the King and Queen go traveling about the country, they decide to take Gulliver along. Gulliver describes the island, the sea around the island, the city of Lorbrulgrud, the King’s palace, his [Gulliver’s] method of travel on the island, several of the island’s inhabitants, and some of the […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Part II: Chapter 4