Gulliver's Travels: Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1726

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-4

Part 1, Chapters 5-8

Part 2, Chapters 1-4

Part 2, Chapters 5-8

Part 3, Chapters 1-6

Part 3, Chapters 7-11

Part 4, Chapters 1-6

Part 4, Chapters 7-12

Character Analysis

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Part 2, Chapters 1-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2: “A Voyage to Brobdingnag”

Part 2, Chapter 1 Summary

A new adventure begins. Feeling restless after returning home and spending time with his family, Gulliver embarks on a voyage led by Captain John Nicholas. After some time at sea, the ship is blown off course by storms. When the crew spots land, the captain sends them to find and bring back fresh water. Gulliver joins the party but becomes separated from the group.

As Gulliver returns to the boat, he notices that the crew members are being chased by a kind of giant monster. Realizing the danger he is in, Gulliver seeks a safe space to hide. He finds his way to a cornfield where the plants are gigantic. While there, he observes the same giant from before, now with other giants. They are reaping in the field and Gulliver soon realizes that he is going to be either crushed by the giants or cut in half by their scythes. He screams out, attracting their notice. The giants are intrigued and curious. They pick him up and look him over while Gulliver makes gestures signaling intense fear and supplication.

The lead giant, who Gulliver assumes is a farmer, brings Gulliver home. Gulliver then describes the giant’s family, including a young son who picks up Gulliver to play with him as a toy. There is also an infant who picks up Gulliver and puts him in its mouth. He sees a cat who immediately terrifies him and dogs that look the size of elephants.

The giant heads back out to work, leaving Gulliver in the care of his wife. Gulliver is given a place to sleep. While sleeping, he is attacked by rats. He fends off the rats with his sword and kills two. The farmer’s wife comes to his aid and calls in a servant to toss the rats out the window. Finally, Gulliver once again describes the process by which he discreetly requested to be left alone to urinate outside.

Part 2, Chapter 2 Summary

Gulliver describes the farmer’s daughter, a nine-year-old girl named Grumdalclitch who takes care of him as though he is a doll. As word about Gulliver spreads through the region, the farmer realizes the money-making potential there is in showcasing Gulliver to the curious citizens. The farmer starts bringing Gulliver to the market days and charges money for curious natives to get a look. Gulliver performs for the onlookers. He has learned the language from Grumdalclitch, and part of his act involves following directions and carrying on conversation. The farmer then decides to bring the act on the road and begins traveling all over the kingdom, charging admission to see Gulliver. After ten weeks of travel and daily performances, the farmer and his retinue arrive at the metropolis of Lorbrulgrud, also known as “Pride of the Universe” (56).

Part 2, Chapter 3 Summary

All of the travelling and constant performing has Gulliver feeling weak and exhausted. Eventually, the queen makes the farmer an offer to purchase Gulliver. Seeing that Gulliver is likely totally out of energy and that his new business venture is about to come to an end, the farmer agrees to sell. Gulliver is allowed to keep his nurse, the girl Grumdalclitch.

The queen then begins to pamper Gulliver, ensuring that he is looked after and his living quarters well-arranged. She has her carpenters build a doll house for Gulliver to live in. Gulliver then details his rivalry with the queen’s dwarf, who picks on Gulliver presumably because he has finally found an adult who is smaller than he is.

Part 2, Chapter 4 Summary

Gulliver provides a detailed account of the geography of Brobdingnag, which is very large and proportional to the very large inhabitants. He then describes the king’s palace, which is a whole seven miles around. Since everything is proportional, insects are the size of birds and Gulliver is able to get a good look at lice that he sees on some of the common folk. Gulliver wants to see the temple and is taken there. He is surprised to notice that the overall size of the building is not to the proportions he expected. In fact, after he does the calculations, the temple is smaller than those of his native England.

Part 2, Chapters 1-4 Analysis

For his second journey, Gulliver blames fate and misfortune. Right at the beginning of the first chapter in Part 2, Gulliver says, “Having been condemned by nature and fortune, to active and restless life, in two months after my return, I again left my native country” (46, emphasis added). This is a common refrain in the text: Gulliver ascribes his motivation for pursuing adventure to something completely out of his control, i.e., “nature and fortune.” He positions himself as a passive recipient of fate’s condemnation rather than as an agent who makes his own decisions and abides by the consequences of them. After landing in Brobdingnag, Gulliver laments his choice to take to the high seas once again: “I lamented my own folly and wilfulness, in attempting a second voyage, against the advice of all my friends and relations” (48). Here, he calls his actions “folly” and seems genuinely regretful that he could have made such a stupid decision to put himself in harm’s way. However, Gulliver only really feels regret when fear manifests itself. From the confines and safety of his own home, he seeks out adventure intentionally, even against others’ advice.

The proportionality of the giants in Brobdingnag exposes the imperfections in their natural appearance. Gulliver is able to see blemishes in their skin and observes dirt and grime that are present. His ability to see the giants almost as though he holds a magnifying glass against them often makes Gulliver disgusted. Gulliver observes a nurse about to feed a screaming infant and says, “I must confess no object ever disgusted me so much as the sight of her monstrous breast, which I cannot tell what to compare with, so as to give the curious reader an idea of its bulk, shape, and colour” (52, emphasis added). Any bodily function that involves some kind of natural act is disgusting to Gulliver, even breastfeeding, suggesting his deep unease with the human form and its functions.

As occurred in his memoirs of Lilliput, Gulliver once again mentions how he had to modestly ask for privacy to urinate. There is a clear focus on the human body in this section, and generally in the rest of the book. It is not beautiful, and the way Swift portrays natural bodily functions serves as an antithesis to Platonic portrayals of human forms, especially female figures. Instead, Swift presents the body as a gross, filth-ridden monstrosity.