Question: Which book of Gulliver's Travels do you find least aggressive?
Answer: Jonathan Swift, the world-famous novelist, is a social thinker. He was an active activist of the Tory party. He observed the political corruption and vices at a close quarter. As a conscious writer, no sin or deformities of society does not escape his pen. He used his pen-like sword very powerfully and lashed the whip of satire against the absurdities and deformed fashion of his contemporary society. To him, contemporary society was a repository of vices. Politicians, especially of the Whigs party, we take part actively in shameless politics. As a result, was unrest in the country. The whole nation suffered terribly. The men and women were moray degraded. The politicians were even ready to secure their interests in exchange for their moral character. However, these heinous Pictures have been depicted in Gulliver's Travels. But we must remember that his description is colored with literary value and for this reason, they are not very bitter. But I think the first book is less aggressive than the other three Books. In the other three books. I find that the satire is bare and sheer to a great extent. But the first Book is colored with the author's sense of humor and craftsmanship.
In the second Book “Voyage to Brobdingnag,” Swift severely attacked the political, social, and even moral degradation of his country. In doing so he has used Gulliver as the spokesman of his age. Gulliver discloses the hypocrite devices adopted by the polities of his country. He says that the English nation has inverted many man-killing weapons and thus the English people are ready to make war with any nation. In reaction, the Brobdingnagian King chides the ‘Vermin' like Gulliver whose heads are filled with ominous thoughts. In fact, in this Book swift satirized the English nation openly.
In the 3rd Book, the malpractice of science is also satirized openly. The ministers who cannot provide their wives with necessities are severely criticized by the writer. The writer says that science is misused by some capricious leaders and as a result, the rich are growing richer and the poor are growing poorer. The picture of the grand Academy reminds us of the Royal Society of England. On the whole, this book is aggressive.
In the 4th Book, the author has anatomized the voice of human beings. He has addressed the corrupted human beings as Yahoos and criticized the immorality and looseness of character in a very bare manner. Swift brings Houyhnhnms as a model whom human beings may follow and adorn their lines with some new qualities. The satire reaches its climax when at the end we find that Gulliver is, going to the night in the stable because he feels irritated by the smell C of the body of his wife.
But the tone of satire is mild and less aggressive in the first Book. In the first Book, we find that Gulliver is in the land of Lilliput. He is given a very strange reception by the huge crowd of six inches tall people. Gulliver is considered to be the man mountain. Actually, the Land of the Lilliput is England on a miniature scale. In the land of Lilliput, there are two political parties—High Heel and Low Heel. Actually, the High heel represents the Tory and the Low Heel represents the Whig Party of which Low Heel grows oppressive and the Whig Party grew oppressive during the reign of Games II and Games III. Here Gulliver represents the Broiling brook, and Blefusae represents neighboring France. The king represents Games II and his minister Flimnap represents Robert Walpole. The ups and downs of Walpole are depicted through the allegorical description. If anybody does not have any sense of the contemporary history of England, he will be able to enjoy the book without the least exertion. Most probably it is for this reason Gulliver's Travels' has become an immensely popular school story.
However, in respect of the delineation as stated above we come across that the first Book is very much dramatic and allegorical and the satirical touch is implicit. As a result, it has become less aggressive than the other three Books' of the novel.
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