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Jonathan Swift 's True Purpose

Decent Essays

Katherine Rowland Rowland 1
Mrs.Hofler
MYP English 2 20 November 2014
Jonathan Swift’s True Purpose Happy adventure tale, wonderful children’s book, filth, and absurd were just a few words that people during the 17th century used to describe Gulliver’s Travels. During the 17th century there was a period of new ideas and creativity; that period was called the Reformation. The Reformation period was a time of change for how people interpreted the world around them. The opinions of Gulliver’s Travels were based off of interpretations of the book, the interpretations were not always correct; therefore, the opinions were not correctly informed. Swift was specifically committed to the Protestant idea, that man is sinful by nature. (“Novels for Students” 83). Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels uses satire to critique the human condition. Swift uses his satire to create a world where he displays all of the ways humans can and have acted towards others. Swift examines the human condition through the Lilliputians, Laputans, Brobdingnag, Houyhnhnms, and the Yahoos. Some people misread the book and that is why there are uninformed negative opinions towards the book. The people that misunderstood were offended, after discovering it is not a simple adventure tale, but a tale about the unfavorable side of a person. These people called the book horrible, shameful, and

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