Gulliver's Travels

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift

Page 474 (Background Information)

1. What year was Jonathan Swift born? What year did he die?

2. What was Swift suffering from while writing Gulliver's Travels?

3. Where was Swift born?

4. What was interwoven with politics during Swift's time?

5. What was the Scriblerus Club?

6. When was Gulliver's Travels published?

7. What did Swift serve as for over 30 years?

8. What conflict is Swift satirizing in "A Voyage to Lilliput"?

9. What was he satirizing with the conflict between Lilliput and Blefuscu?

10. What is Swift satirizing in "A Visit to Brobdingnag"?

Page 475: Literary Focus

11. What is satire?

12. What forms can satire take?

Page 476: A Voyage to Lilliput

13. How tall are the Lilliputians?

14. How does Gulliver win the Lilliputians favor?

15. What country is Lilliput meant to represent?

16. What country is Blefuscu meant to represent?

17. How long has the war with Blefuscu been going on? How did it begin?

Page 477: A Voyage to Lilliput (Cont.)

18. Who do the "Big-Endians" represent? Who do the "Little-Endians" represent?

19. How many people is it estimated have chosen death over breaking their eggs on the smaller end?

20. What book is the "Brundecral" meant to represent?

Page 478: A Voyage to Lilliput (Cont.)

21. Reading Strategy: How might the mention of a narrow channel suggest England and France?

22. Why does Gulliver stay away from the coast facing Blefuscu?

Page 479: A Voyage to Lilliput (Cont.)

23. What idea does Gulliver come up with and present to the emperor?

24. What does the enemy do when they see Gulliver?

25. What is the definition of an "expedient"? What expedient does Gulliver use to protect his eyes?

26. What does Gulliver end up doing with the ships from Blefuscu?

27. What is the "Nardac"? Who is awarded this title?

Page 480: A Voyage to Lilliput (Cont.)

28. Why does the Emperor of Lilliput turn against Gulliver? Do you believe this is fair? Why or why not?

Page 480: A Voyage to Brobdingnag

29. Where is Brobdingnag located? How tall are the inhabitants?

30. Who is Gulliver sold to?

31. What happens every Wednesday?

32. What type of animal does the prince compare Gulliver to?

Page 481: A Voyage to Brobdingnag (Cont.)

33. What is the gentry?

34. When Gulliver explains "gaming" to the king, what is he referring to?

Page 482: A Voyage to Brobdingnag

35. According to the king, what qualities qualify somebody to be a legislator (politician) in England? What is the author (Swift) saying about English politicians? Explain.

36. The king describes Gulliver's people as being "odious." What does this mean?

37. What invention does Gulliver tell the king about?

Page 483: A Voyage to Brobdingnag (Cont.)

38. What is the king's reaction to the knowledge of military warfare Gulliver shares with him?

39. What does the king command Gulliver to do with this knowledge?

40. Reader Response: Explain why you would or would not like to travel with Gulliver.

Check for Comprehension (Possible Quiz Questions)

41. Describe the conflict between Lilliput and Blefuscu over the breaking of eggs.

42. How does Gulliver aid the King of Lilliput?

43. What are the consequences of Gulliver's refusal to destroy the King of Lilliput's enemies?

44. How does the King of Brobdingnag view English history of the preceding hundred years?

45. What is the King of Brobdingnag's reaction to Gulliver's proposal that he use gunpowder?

Gulliver's Travels - 1996 Film (Questions) 

Introduction 

1. What is satire?

2. What does Swift’s story satirize?

3. What is the woman in white being pressured to do at the beginning of the film?

4. What is in the small bag the lady in white is given?

5. What causes the lady (Mary Gulliver) to investigate the barn?

6. What does the strange man (Dr. Lemuel Gulliver) in the barn say when we first meet him?

Adventure 1

7. The man seems to have a flashback to which place?

8. What do the 2 beach combers find one day?

9. What do the small people, the Lilliputans do to the giant Lemuel Gulliver?

10. The Lilliputan soldiers first believe that Gulliver is a what?

11. How long has Gulliver been gone from home?

12. Who do the soldiers think has sent the giant?

13. How do the Lilliputans transport Gulliver?

14. Evaluate the emperor as a ruler. Whose advice does he rely on?

15. Why are Bigenders the enemies of the Lilliputans? What is the origin of their feud?

16. For what purposes do the Lilliputans learn “leaping and creeping”?

17. Compare the Lilliputans’ form of government to Englands ’. Is it better or worse? How?

18. Who now owns Lemuel and Mary’s fine house? Why?

19. Where does Dr. Bates want to take Gulliver?

20. How does Gulliver prove to be a hero to the Lilliputans?

21. After Gulliver embarrasses the empress (by extinguishing the fire), how does the king consider punishing him?

22. How does Gulliver hide from the Lilliputan army while trying to escape?

23. How does Gulliver make a raft?

24. Where does Dr. Bates take Gulliver? How does he convince him to go? 

Adventure 2

25. What is unusual about the land of the Brobdingnags?

26. Who finds Gulliver?

27. How does the family try to make money off of Gulliver?

28. Who purchases Gulliver, and how much does he sell for?

29. Who accompanies Gulliver after he is sold?

30. What position does the queen give to Gulliver?

31. How is he transported while he is at the palace?

32. What do you notice about the ruler of the Brobdingnags?

33. How do the Brobdingnags govern themselves?

34. Is this method of government better or worse than England ’s, or not comparable?

35. What do you notice about the place of science and education in the land of the Brobdingnags?

36. Why is the queen’s dwarf mean to Gulliver?

37. Where does Gulliver live while at the palace?

38. How old is Glumdalclitch, and how would you describe her relationship with Gulliver?

39. Why does Gulliver introduce gunpowder to the Brobdingnags, and how is this demonstration received?

40. What does Tom find in his father’s knapsack back home?

41. How does Gulliver defend himself against the wasps?

42. What happens to Gulliver one day while he is at the beach with Glum?

43. When the bird drops Gulliver, where do he and the box land?

Adventure 3 

44. What is unusual about Laputa?

45. How does Gulliver get transported to Laputa?

46. How big is the floating island? How many people live on it?

47. What nationality do these people remind you of? Why might Swift include these people in a book?

48. What seems to characterize the people of Laputa?

49. Who is Prince Munodi?

50. What does Dr. Bates do with Mary’s letter?

51. What is a “flapper”? What is its use?

52. What is the Rajah predicting will happen?

53. How is the island controlled (in scientific terms)?

54. What is the problem with the way the island navigates?

55. What is Tom Gulliver drawing?

56. Why does Gulliver want to “reverse the lodestone”?

57. Where does Gulliver fall?

58. How does Munodi’s mother view intellectualism?

59. Why does Gulliver want to find the “Academy”? What type of place is it?

60. What might the “Academy” represent in real-life societies?

At this point, Gulliver travels around the land of Luggnagg . These places represent societies intrigued with the Period of Enlightenment: Love of intellectual and scientific attitudes and practices.

61. Why is the old man mashing cucumbers?

62. Who does Gulliver meet in the Room of Answers? Why is this appropriate?

63. Back in England , where is Gulliver placed?

64. Gulliver ends up being a prisoner at the palace of the Glubbubdribs. It’s like a scene out of the movie Groundhog Day. Why?

65. When Gulliver is drugged and sleeping at night, what does the king do to him?

66. Who does Gulliver end up summoning through a mirror? Why?

67. In the land of the Struldbrugs, a lady speaks to Gulliver from a golden eye. What is unusual about the Struldbrugs?

68. What is wrong with the people near the waters of immortality?

69. Back in England , how is Dr. Bates caught in a lie?

70. Does Gulliver drink from the waters of immortality? Why or why not?

71. While Mary is trying to get Gulliver off his addiction to laudanum, what ship experience does he tell her about?

72. How does he leave the ship?

Adventure 4: The Houyhnhms (pronounced “ how WIN ems”) and the Yahoos

73. Gulliver, back in England , is taken to a court hearing. What does he call the people there?

74. Describe the real Yahoos. What do you think they represent?

75. Describe the Houyhnhms. What do you think they represent?

76. In the world of Adventure 4, the Houyhnhms act like __________________ and the Yahoos act like ______________________.

77. Who is “Mistress”?

78. What do the Yahoos dig on the beaches for?

79. What does Gulliver find by digging on the beaches? What does he do with his findings?

80. What does the Houyhnhm Council decide about Gulliver?

81. How does he plan to leave the Houyhnhms?

82. Why does Gulliver throw his food overboard?

83. Who rescues him?

84. How does Mary answer when Dr. Bates asks her if Mary believes Gulliver’s stories?

85. Why does Tom appear at the court hearing?

86. What does Tom’s evidence prove?

87. Lem, Mary, and Tom return home. How does life continue for the Gullivers?

88. Why does Lem like to visit the stables at his home?

89. Does he find peace? What can Gulliver still not tolerate by the end of the story?