Irish author and satirist Jonathan Swift was born November 30, 1667 in Dublin. He
attended Trinity College in Dublin at age 15 but was forced to move to England because of
political unrest. In England, Swift worked as a secretary to Sir William Temple at Moor Park,
Surrey for the next 10 years. During his employment at Moor Park, Swift was given unlimited
access to Temple's vast library, which helped him to grow intellectually. When Temple died in
1699, Swift returned to Ireland. When he returned, he didn't write much until the 1720's. It is
believed that Swift began writing his greatest work, Gulliver's Travels, in 1721 and finished it in
1725. Gulliver's Travels is about the exploits of a man's journey to uncharted lands. Lemeul
Gulliver, the protagonist of the story, is a ship surgeon who is eager to visit new lands. Gulliver
is a very courageous and eager to learn about new places and things.
In the first story, Gulliver is shipwrecked and washes up on the island of Lilliput. The
people of this land are all one-twelfth his size. One of the inhabitants discovers Gulliver and
tells the king. The king holds him captive and soon befriends him. The king's scholars taught
Gulliver their language and he and the king exchanged stories about each other's land. Soon
Gulliver became tired of the Lilliputians and went to the rival island of Blefuscu. According to
Eddy, Swift created these two groups of people to resemble the British and the French. Like the
people of Lilliput and Blefuscu, they are rivals (Eddy 161). Gulliver arrives at Blefuscu and
befriends its people. Soon Gulliver finds reason to return to England and does.
In the next voyage, Gulliver is aboard his ship and is caught in a storm and lost at sea.
After many days, someone discovers land and sends Gulliver out to search for fresh water.
During his search, ...