Gulliver’s Travels
c Pearson Education Limited 2008 Gulliver’s Travels - Teacher’s notes of 3
Teacher’s notes LEVEL 2 PENGUIN READERS
Teacher Support Programme
About the author
Jonathan Swift was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1667 and
came of age at the height of the Glorious Revolution, in
which James II, a Roman Catholic, was forced to abdicate
in favour of William of Orange, a Protestant. Although he
was a great literary figure even in his time, we know very
little about his private life. For example, we are not even
sure if he married. He became an influential member of
the British government but he never achieved the position
in the Church of England that he felt he deserved. He was,
he felt, banished to the deanship of St. Patrick’s and when
his party fell from power with the accession of George I,
his period in the political limelight came to an end.
Swift died in a mental institution, finally struck down by
an illness which had probably been with him for a long
time. But he wasn’t mad when he wrote Gulliver’s Travels,
a brilliant satire on politics and society, and a timeless
book for children.
The original text
Gulliver’s Travels is not really a children’s book, but it has
been seen as a children’s story right from the start: little
people, big people, talking horses. It was first published
in 1726. At the time that Swift published Gulliver’s
Travels, he was dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin.
The book, which made fun of the political scene and
certain prominent people in England, was published
anonymously and was a great success.
Summary
In each of the three stories in this book, the hero, Lemuel
Gulliver, embarks on a voyage, but, as in the Voyages of
Sinbad the Sailor on which the stories may in part have
been based, some calamity befalls him. First, Gulliver
arrives in Lilliput, where he finds himself a giant, held
prisoner by tiny men. They are initially afraid of him, but
he gradually wins their trust and eventually helps them
in their war against Blefuscu. The second land he visits is
called Brobdingnag, a land of giants. Gulliver, now a tiny
person, has to work as a freak in a show at first but is then
rescued by the Queen and has long talks with the King.
Gulliver finally ends up in the land of the Houyhnhnms,
peaceful horses who have created a perfect society, except
for the presence of monkey-like Yahoos. Although
Gulliver looks like a well-kempt Yahoo, he wants to be a
Houyhnhnm. Finally, he has to leave because he does not
fit into this society.
Part I: A Journey to Lilliput
Chapter 1: Gulliver sets off on the ship Antelope to the
South Seas, but strong winds wreck it. Gulliver lands on
an island and when he wakes up he finds himself tied to
the ground. A large number of little men (no larger than
Gulliver’s hands) keep him prisoner and when he tries to
break free, they attack him with arrows. Gulliver stays still
not to get hurt. Then they bring him food and drink and
plan to take him to the king but still tied with strings.
Chapter 2: He is given a house, an old church, but
Gulliver is still tied to the wall of the church. Lilliputians
think he is dangerous. Some men attack Gulliver and
when the king’s men throw them to Gulliver, he pretends
he is going to eat them, but then sets them free. Gulliver
is kind, so the king will not kill him, and he teaches
Gulliver their language. The king promises to untie
Gulliver’s strings if he follows his written rules. Gulliver
hands over his belongings: his sword and his guns. Now he
can walk again.
Chapter 3: Gulliver learns about the war between Lilliput
and Blefuscu and offers to help the king: he pulls forty
large Blefuscu ships to Lilliput. The king is happy, but as
he is very ambitious he wants Gulliver to help him kill
the Big-enders, enemies of his people, the Little-enders.
Gulliver refuses to do so. The people from Blefuscu
and Lilliput finally put an end to their war. The king of
Blefuscu invites Gulliver to his island. Gulliver finally
decides to leave Lilliput and goes to the enemy island.
Chapter 4: After a short stay at Blefuscu, Gulliver leaves
for home.
Jonathan Swift
Gulliver’s Travels
c Pearson Education Limited 2008 Gulliver’s Travels - Teacher’s notes of 3
Teacher’s notes LEVEL 2 PENGUIN READERS
Teacher Support Programme
Part II: Gulliver in Brobdingnag
Chapter 1: When Gulliver sets off again to the Indies,
his ship is hit by another storm and he is once again
marooned on an unknown island: Brobdingnag, land
of giants. He lives on a farm and the farmer’s daughter
teaches Gulliver their language. The farmer, an ambitious
man, makes money by showing Gulliver around the
country. Gulliver falls ill.
Chapter 2: When he is brought before the queen of
Brobdingnag she buys Gulliver because she likes him a
lot. The farmer’s daughter stays with him. The king shows
interest in England’s political system and asks Gulliver
questions which embarrass him. He wants to impress the
king with his country’s wonders only to discover that in
Brobdingnag there is no war and people help each other
instead of fighting.
Chapter 3: His happy stay ends when a huge bird lifts
him high into the air then drops him into the sea, but he
is soon rescued and on his way back home again.
Part III: Gulliver in the country of the
Houyhnhnms
Chapter 1: After a brief stay with his family, Gulliver sets
off again in 1710. His crew falls ill, so he stops for more
men in Barbados. The new crew stages a mutiny and keeps
Gulliver in his room for a long time until he is left ashore.
He ends up in the land of the Houyhnhnms, peaceful
horses with a strange language and monkey-like Yahoos
who work for them. A grey horse takes him to his house,
but Gulliver finds their food distasteful.
Chapter 2: Gulliver learns the new language and talks to
his new ‘owner’, who asks questions about life in Gulliver’s
country but is puzzled by some of the answers. The horse
cannot understand why creatures who think make war
and destroy each other. The grey horse has to attend
the meeting held every four years, where they discuss
important matters.
Chapter 3: Back home, the horse tells Gulliver he should
leave because the other horses are afraid he might help
the Yahoos against them. Although Gulliver looks like
a well-kempt Yahoo, he wants to be a Houyhnhnm and
belong to that perfect society but in the end he decides
to leave. Even on his return to England, he prefers the
company of horses to the company of men, whom he now
sees as bestial Yahoos.
Background and themes
Satire as a genre: Satire is a genre in which human or
individual vices are exposed by means of ridicule, derision,
burlesque, irony, or other methods, with the intention of
bringing about improvement. Satire is usually witty, and
often very funny. However, its purpose is not to make
readers laugh but to criticise an event, an individual or a
group in a clever manner.
Voyages around the world: Jonathan Swift wrote
Gulliver’s Travels in the 1720s, when much of the world
had not yet been discovered by Europeans. Gulliver,
a surgeon, narrates his voyages to foreign lands and calls
them ‘Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World
In Four Parts … by Lemuel Gulliver.’ It was originally
received by audiences as merely an exciting adventure.
People of this era enjoyed reading literature about travel
into unknown lands such as the East Indies (southeast
Asia) or the West Indies (islands in the Caribbean Sea).
British political organisation in Swift’s times:
When Swift was writing Gulliver’s Travels, England was
undergoing a lot of political shuffling: George I was an
unpopular king who had gained his throne with the
help of the Whig party. The Whig ministers then used
their power against the Tories and Swift, a Tory himself,
resented their actions.
Discussion activities
Before reading
1 Guess: Put students into small groups and ask them
to make a list of places they expect Gulliver to visit in
his travels. Ask students to bring along a map of the
world and speculate where Gulliver will go.
2 Discuss: Ask students to work together to describe
the picture in the book cover: Where is Gulliver?
Who are the little people around him? How does Gulliver
feel? Why?
3 Group work: Put students in three groups. Each
group must consider the problems of living in a
particular fantasy land:
Land 1: a place where all the people are very small
and you are the only normal-sized person.
Land 2: a place where all the people are giants and
you are the only normal sized person.
Land 3: a place where you are the only person; all
the other creatures are animals. The students must
consider where they would live, what they would eat,
how they would travel, the advantage and the dangers
of their particular situation.
Each group presents their ideas to the other groups.
Gulliver’s Travels
c Pearson Education Limited 2008 Gulliver’s Travels - Teacher’s notes of 3
Teacher’s notes LEVEL 2 PENGUIN READERS
Teacher Support Programme
Part I: A Journey to Lilliput
While reading
4 Discuss: Ask students to work in pairs and place
Bristol and the East Indies (nowadays, Southeast Asia)
in their maps. Get them to speculate what route the
Antelope followed to the East Indies.
5 Role play: Have students imagine the interaction
between Gulliver and the man in the long coat on
page 5. Get students to imagine the man’s gestures
and movements that helped Gulliver understand what
he meant.
6 Discuss: Have students discuss why the people in the
story said or thought the following:
‘I’m going to die’, Gulliver said (page 1)
‘I’ll stay quiet’, Gulliver thought (page 3)
‘We have to carry you with the strings around you’,
the great man said to Gulliver (page 6)
‘Don’t climb up onto this man’s body!’ the king’s men
told him (page 6)
‘You can put me on your hand’, Reldresal said to
Gulliver (page 10)
‘I won’t help you with that’, Gulliver told the king of
Lilliput (page 12)
7 Write: Have students imagine they are one of the
great men. You write to a friend of yours and you
tell him what you have decided to do with the
‘Man-Mountain’ and why.
After reading
8 Guess: Have students check their predictions about
Gulliver’s adventures in Lilliput from activity 4.
Were they right?
9 Discuss: Ask the students to discuss why the
Lilliputians keep Gulliver tied up with strings.
10 Write: Get students into two groups. One will write a
chapter in the story of Lilliput called ‘The problems
between the Big-enders and the Little-enders’ and the
other group another chapter called ‘How the war
between Lilliput and Blefuscu ended.’
11 Role play: Put students into pairs to role play a
conversation between the king of Lilliput and
Gulliver. The king wants Gulliver to help him in
his war with Blefuscu. Gulliver agrees on certain
conditions.
Part II: Gulliver in Brobdingnag
Before reading
12 Guess: Ask students to look at the pictures in Part II
and answer the following: Will Gulliver’s adventures in
Brobdingnag be the same or different from his adventures
in Lilliput? Why do you think so?
While reading
13 Role play: The head man of a village visits the farmer
to take a look at Gulliver. Ask the students to role
play the conversation between the farmer and the
visitor.
14 Discuss: The big men were kind to Gulliver. Ask
students to discuss what the big men did to make
Gulliver feel comfortable in their land.
After reading
15 Role play: Ask students to imagine they all live in
Brobdingnag and that two of them have been to the
market. They have seen Gulliver. They must explain
to the others what he looks like and what he does.
The other people don’t believe them and ask lots of
questions.
16 Discuss: Have your students compare the political
system in their country with England’s political
system. Have them discuss what type of work the
people who make laws do.
17 Pair work: Explain to students that Gulliver’s Travels
was written as a satire (see Background and themes
above). Ask them to work in pairs and make a list of
points that Swift is making about English politics in
this part of the story. Elicit all the ideas and list them
on the board.
Part III: Gulliver in the country of the
Houyhnhnms
Before reading
18 Guess: ask students to look at the picture on page 30,
and ask them to guess what the new place Gulliver
visits is like.
While reading
19 Research: Ask students to find information about
Barbados. Where is it? What is it like? Would they
like to go there? Why/why not?
20 Role play: The two horses are making noises.
Gulliver thinks they are having a conversation about
him. Ask students to role play that conversation.
21 Research: Ask students to find information about
the British Parliament at the time. Have them make
presentations with their findings.
22 Discuss: Have students discuss why Gulliver thought
‘In many ways they’re as bad as the Yahoos here.’
23 Write: Have students imagine Gulliver wrote a
farewell note to his host family of horses. Ask them
to write the note.
After reading
24 Discuss: Have the students work in pairs and make
a list of points that Swift is making about English
society and politics in this part of the story.
25 Discuss: Ask students to discuss this question:
Why did Swift choose horses to represent good people and
Yahoos (monkey men) to represent bad people?
Vocabulary activities
For the Word List and vocabulary activities, go to
www.penguinreaders.com.