Discussion questions – Gulliver’s Travels Book I: “A Voyage to Lilliput” Chapter 1 – 4
As in all of the popular travel narratives, the author (or persona, Lemuel Gulliver) begins by giving briefly his own background. What four subjects does Gulliver study? What else do we learn about him in the first two pages? What is Gulliver’s motive for heading out to sea? (Note: “physic” = medicine).
Actually, even though Swift went to some pains to give the places of his voyage “accurate” locations, he was in error a number of times in trying to figure dates of arrivals, etc. Why would Swift go to the trouble of trying to work out reasonable longitudes and latitudes and distances?
