The first time I started this book I was in my teens. This time I was able to get past the first fifty pages and found an enjoyable and at times disturbing book. The book contains elements of satire, science fiction and ends with a scathing indictment of the human race.
The best known tale is Gulliver's voyage to Lilliput. Lilliput is a miniature world on a scale of one inch to a foot compared to the world we live in. Gulliver lives with the king and in one episode puts out a fire in the palace by urinating, an event which does not endear him to the Queen. He becomes a hero by stopping an attempted invasion of Lilliput by the people of Blefuscu an island that lies close to Lilliput. The people of Lilliput and Blefuscu have an ongoing dispute over which end of the egg should be opened. This is a life and death matter to those involved and I took it for a satire on the religious disputes which were rampant during the author's life, (1667-1745). Gulliver leaves Lilliput when he learns they have decided to put out his eyes and imprison him.
He does not stay long in England and his next voyage finds him in Brobdingnag. In this land he is the Lilliputian and the average man is 72 feet tall. As in Lilliput he ends up living with the king and they spend time talking about the differences between their two countries. Gulliver's adventures in this land focus on the dangers he faces because of his size. Something akin to some of the episodes in The Incredible Shrinking Man. Gulliver's journey out of Brobdingnag is one of those adventures. When Gulliver went out he would be carried in a room size basket. On one occasion he he taken near the sea and left by himself in the basket. The basket is picked up by a large eagle and then dropped when the eagle was attacked by another bird. He is rescued from the sea and ends up back in England.
In one of his most interesting adventures he travels to the land of Laputa. It is a city in the clouds peopled by an unusual looking race whose interests are music and mathematics. The author showed a great deal of imagination in his description of how the world flew through the air propelled by magnetic power. This voyage is very brief and after several other brief voyages he comes to the land of the Houyhnhnms.
The Houyhnhnms have the shape and form of horses. They can speak and are the dominant race in their land. Living with the Houyhnhnms are a race called the Yahoos. The Yahoos resemble homo sapiens and they perform the functions of the beasts of burden in that country. The Houyhnhnms and the Yahoos find Gulliver very confusing. The Yahoos wear no clothes and for a long time Gulliver keeps his on so he will not be mistaken for an inferior Yahoo. Once he is seen without clothing he is labeled a Yahoo with all of the connotations of inferiority of those peoples. He is able to learn the Houyhnhnm language and convinces his master that he is a cut above the average Yahoo. When he tells his master that in his country the Yahoos ride the Houyhnhnms he is at first not believed. Gulliver then discourses on life in Europe and war and the use of weapons, the deceitful practices of diplomacy and business. His master is appalled and tells Gulliver that the Houyhnhnms do not know how to say that which is not true. He tells his master that in his country the Yahoos castrate the Houyhnhnms to control them and this starts a social revolution.
The Houyhnhnms periodically have a grand assembly of their wisest men. This time the topic of discussion is the information Gulliver has imparted. The Houyhnhnms decide that the Yahoos have some of the despicable qualities of greed and lust for power and thus are a danger to them. It is decided that all of the male Yahoos will be castrated so that the race will be eradicated. They will train mules to be their beasts of burden to take the place of the Yahoos.
Gulliver is told that he will have to go back to where he came from. By now Gulliver has decided that only the Houyhnhnms are truly civilized and the thought of leaving is heartbreaking. He returns to England a very unhappy man. He has to force himself to tolerate the presence of his wife briefly at dinner. He can no longer tolerate the practices of his nation in conquering other peoples and taking their land for colonies. The thought of any cruelty to horses puts him in a spasm of grief. I do not doubt the sincerity of the author's feelings. He once wrote a tract on the the practice of eating children as an answer to the food problem. To all those who may occasionally say, "People are no damn good", raise a glass to Jonathan Swift. ( )