Gulliver�s Travels: A Social and Political Allegory
Allegory means a story based on two levels, �apparent level and deeper� . Swift�s polemical tour de force � Gulliver�s Travels� is a multi-genre text working on many levels. It is at once a folk-myth, a delightful children's story, a wonderful travelogue, a neurotic fantasy, and an unequivocal moral tale. Each of the four books�recounting four voyages to fictional exotic lands�may have a different theme but all are the attempts to deflate excessive human pride. Critics hail the work as a satiric reflection on the shortcomings of Enlightenment thought. The form and structure of the whole work enhances Swift's purpose. By using outlandish humans such as midgets and giants, Swift allows us to examine the fallacies of mankind without being overly frightened. As Tuveson points out, "In Gulliver's Travels there is a constant shuttling back and forth between real and unreal, normal and absurd.� From the start the Lilliputians arouse our interest and win our liking....