Step into the fantastical world of “Gulliver’s Travels Extra Questions and Answers for Class 9,” a classic novel that takes readers on a thrilling journey to far-off lands and introduces them to strange and extraordinary beings. In this blog post, we will unravel the adventurous narrative of this timeless tale and explore the profound insights it offers. Read this also Extra Questions for Class 9 English with Answers.
Gulliver’s Travels Extra Questions and Answers for Class 9 English
Question 1.
Through Gulliver’s Travels Swift comments on England’s growing power. Justify.
Answer:
Gulliver’s Travels was written when England, despite its small size, was rising in power on the basis of its formidable fleet. Its growing military and economic power brought England into contact with new animals, plants, places, and things, and most significantly previously unknown people with radically different modes of existence. The write ‘small-statured’ Lilliputians are a physical incarnation of precisely these kinds of cultural differences.
England in the 17th century became well known for its naval capabilities. The naval strength symbolized prosperity for England because it assured two things, one was military strength and the other was economic power through trade. These two factors greatly boosted England’s status in the international platform and gave birth to its name, ‘the land where the sun never sets’. There was also a growing trend of exploration and discovery, we can see from Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels that the protagonist, Lemuel Gulliver, is seen travelling the world and discovering new and wondrous locations.
Question 2.
How does Swift satirize the British government through the Lilliputians?
Answer:
The procedure for choosing Lilliputian government officials was arbitrary and ridiculous, which was testing merit through their skill at rope-dancing. The officials were literally forced to jump through hoops in order to qualify for their positions. Swift intends for us to understand this episode as a satire on England’s system of political appointments and infers that England’s system is similarly arbitrary.
Swift compares it to the way people in high places get advancements. He implies that people are not always promoted or rewarded because of their skills, but because they have done something to make people in power, like them. The author feels that trying to get ahead by pleasing and submitting to arbitrary wishes of a superior, is as humiliating and as fraught with danger as tightrope dancing. His take on receiving royal honours and working towards it is akin to grovelling, “leaping and creeping” for a little piece of blue, red, or yellow thread.
Question 3.
Lilliput and Blefuscu, the “two great empires of the universe” have been at war for 36 moons? How did the 36 Moon War start?
Answer:
The primitive way of breaking eggs was to cut it from the larger end, but the present emperor’s grandfather, when he was only a child, happened to cut one of his fingers while he was breaking an egg. That is when the then emperor, his father, published an edict, commanding all hi§ subjects to break the smaller end of their eggs. This resulted in six rebellions; one emperor lost his life, and another his crown. Constant trouble was fomented by the monarchs of Blefuscu and those who were exiled found refuge in Blefuscu. Eleven thousand people suffered death, but would not break their eggs at the smaller end.
It was much written about and many hundred large volumes have been published on this controversy but the books of the Big-endians have been long forbidden, and the whole party rendered incapable by law of holding employments. Blefuscans accused Lilliputians of creating a schism in religion-offended a fundamental doctrine of their great prophet Lustrog who said that “all true believers break their eggs at the convenient end” which the Blefuscans interpreted as the big-end. Therefore, a bloody war had been carried on between the two empires for six-and-thirty moons, with varying results.
Question 4.
Write a brief note on the education system of Lilliput.
Answer:
In Lilliput, children were sent to live in schools at a very young age. The schools were chosen according to the station of parents, whom they got to see only twice a year. Schools for young nobles were spartan, and students were trained in honour, justice, courage, modesty, clemency, religion, and patriotism. The schools for tradesmen and ordinary gentlemen were much like those of the nobles, but the duration of schooling was shorter as they were designed for trades and the students were put out as apprentices at the age of eleven years, whereas those of the persons of quality continued their learning till the age of fifteen. The women were educated to be reasonable, agreeable, and literate while the children of workers and farmers did not go to school.
Question 5.
Which “merciful” punishment does the king choose? Do you think it is merciful? Why? Does this punishment reflect any quality of the Lilliputians.
Answer:
The emperor of Lilliput was fully determined against capital punishment. However, the council thought . the loss of eyes too lenient a punishment and wanted another punishment. Reldressal said once blinded, Gulliver’s establishment could be reduced, he would grow weak and faint, lose his appetite, and decay in a few months. He says that the stench of his carcass would not be dangerous as he would be diminished by half.
However, this punishment is not merciful, but rather barbaric, as it is torture resulting in slow death.The punishment reflects badly on the Lilliputians. Out of all the creatures that Gulliver had come across the Lilliputians seemed to resemble the humans in terms of their pride in their own existence and their hypocrisy. This punishment reflects on the hypocrisy of human nature and its excesses.
Question 6.
Bring out the contrast between the Lilliputians and Gulliver.
Answer:
Gulliver manages to break his bonds, and as he does so, one of the Lilliputians shouts an order and the rest shoot their arrows at Gulliver. In a moment, the tiny ones subdue the giant. Then, the work crew arrives and starts building a stage; a person who’s obviously a noble arrives and makes Gulliver a long, highly oratorical speech. Gulliver doesn’t understand a word, and responds to this show by putting his finger on his mouth and grunting to indicate that he’s hungry.
This brings out the contrast between the tiny, ceremonial Lilliputian and the giant. Gulliver is impressed by the Lilliputians as they do sophisticated calculations to arrive at the exact amount of wood they will need for Gulliver’s cart and devise a pulley system to raise Gulliver from the ground to the cart. The Lilliputians don’t hold Gulliver in such high regard. Housed in a polluted temple, Gulliver “creeps” inside his lodging.
Question 7.
What impression do you form of the country of Lilliput and the people?
Answer:
The country is inhabited by small people who are just six inches tall. The countryside looks like a continued garden, and enclosed fields of forty square feet and resembles beds of flowers. The fields are intermingled with woods, and the tallest trees are about seven feet high. The town looks like the painted scene of a city in a theatre. However the people bravely face the “Man Mountain” which is Gulliver.
They were intrigued by the giant spectacle and left towns and villages to come and look at Gulliver. It could also be said that the Lilliputians somewhat symbolized mankind’s pride. They seem to be proud of their puny existence to the extent that they were the only ones in Gulliver’s Travels that made mention of their armies. There is also a lot of gossip and backbiting in the community which begs to question the proud nature of the Lilliputians as compared to their small minds.
Question 8.
Bring out the significance of the small size of the Lilliputians as compared to Gulliver’s large size.
Encourage the students to think creatively andformulate thgir own answer.
Answer:
The difference in size between Gulliver and the Lilliputians emphasizes the importance of physical power. Gulliver succeeds in earning the Lilliputians’ trust, despite threats of crushing them by simply walking carelessly. The humour comes from the Lilliputians’ view of the situation: despite the evidence before their eyes, they never realise their own insignificance. They keep Gulliver tied up, believing they can control him while in reality he could destroy them, effortlessly.
Question 9.
Describe the Lilliputian method of recruiting officials to high posts.
Answer:
The officials in high posts and of high favour at court were recruited by entertaining the emperor. They were not always of noble birth, or liberal education. Skilled rope-dancers impressed the emperor enough to win these positions. When great offices fell vacant, either by death or disgrace, five or six candidates petitioned the emperor, to entertain His Majesty and the court with their rope-dancing skills. Dancers, performed upon a slender white thread, about two feet long, and twelve inches from the ground. Ministers were often commanded to show their skills, to convince the emperor that they had not lost their faculty.
These diversions were, however, attended with fatal accidents or candidates breaking a limb. Another diversion was where the emperor lay on the table and it included three fine silken, six inches long; one blue, the other red, and the third green. The emperor holds a stick in his hands, both ends parallel to the horizon, while the candidates either leap over the stick or creep under it. One who performs with most agility was rewarded with the blue-coloured silk, the red was given to the next, and the green to the third. Great persons at court were adorned with these honours.
Question 10.
How does Gulliver make a playing field for the Emperor’s cavalry?
Answer:
Gulliver ordered several sticks, two feet high and the thickness of an ordinary cane. Taking nine sticks, he fixed them firmly in the ground in a quadrangle, two and a half feet square. He fastened his handkerchief to the nine erect sticks, extended it on all sides, tight as the top of a drum. Then, he took four other sticks, and tied them parallel to each comer, about two feet from the ground four parallel sticks, rising about five inches , higher than the handkerchief, served as ledges on each side. Twenty-four of the best horses exercised upon it; Gulliver placed them up, one by one. The officers were divided into two parties and they performed mock skirmishes. They discharged blunt arrows, drew their swords, fled and pursued, attacked and retired. A fiery horse, pawing with his hoof, struck a hole in a handkerchief and overthrew his rider and himself. The horse strained his left shoulder, but the rider was unhurt.
Question 11.
What impression do you form of the Lilliputians after reading of their political views?
Answer:
In this chapter, Lilliputians seem as mentally small as they are physically diminutive. Like any big rivals, Lilliput and its equally tiny neighbour Blefuscu conceitedly think that they are the only two “great empires” in the universe. Even the presence of the gigantic Gulliver cannot convince them of their relative insignificance. Reldresal informs Gulliver that Lilliputian philosophers have logically proved that Gulliver must have dropped from outer space because there could not be enough food for him on earth.
Their histories, “which go back six thousand moons, make no mention of other empires than Lilliput and Blefuscu”—demonstrates the narrow view of both philosophers and historians so bound by their prejudices that they can’t see things clearly in their proper proportion. The warring parties are the High-Heels and the Low-Heels; the Lilliputian emperor favours the Low-Heels while the Lilliputian heir to the throne wears one high heel and a low one. Blefuscu and Lilliput are at war because of religious differences, represented by the manner in which eggs fire broken before being eaten; earlier everyone broke the larger end of the egg. This gives an insight to their political crisis and war with their neighbour over non-issues.
Question 12.
Swift uses the laws of Lilliput to show that these people’s ideals are good but that the people themselves have not actually been good enough to follow them. List an example of how the people of Lilliput do not live up to the ideals they have set for their society.
Answer:
Gulliver tells us that “ingratitude is a capital crime” for Lilliputians. The reason being— people who are mean to those who have done them a favour are obviously going to be even meaner to the rest of mankind. This they consider to be dangerous and thus such people must be put to death. Yet Lilliputians haven’t managed to stamp out ingratitude. This is evident from the incident where Gulliver brings fifty ships of the enemy fleet to the emperor but all he gets is a new title and the jealous plotting of the High Admiral.
Question 13.
What are Gulliver and his companions doing in Brobdingnag? Why do the others leave Gulliver behind?
Answer:
Two months after his return, Gulliver went to the sea once again. This time on a ship called Adventure. On the 3rd of May, a storm came which was both strange and dangerous. When the storm was off course, on the 17th day of June, 1703, they came in full view of a great island, or continent. The crewmembers including Gulliver went to the island to investigate—wandered on the shore to find out some fresh water near the sea. Gulliver walked a mile on the other side. When he returned he saw his companions already in the boat, and rowing for life to the ship, while they were being pursued by a huge creature walking after them in the sea, as fast as he could. Thus they escaped, leaving Gulliver behind.
Question 14.
Write a short note on the people of Lilliput.
Answer:
The Lilliputians are tiny, six-inch tall people. Their land has proportionally tiny buildings, trees and horses, and is ruled by an emperor of the same size. Their high court officials are appointed according to their skills at rope dancing and not according to rational principles. The people are filled with self-importance and possess all the petty vices and follies of humankind: greed, hypocrisy, selfishness, and moral corruption; spend time plotting against one another.
They are also ungrateful as is evident from the fact that even though Gulliver made himself useful in Lilliput’s wars against Blefuscu, the emperor saw him as dangerous and wanted to get rid of him. Despite their small size the Lilliputians are capable of doing a great deal of harm. They are treacherous and cruel, and think up gruesome ways to kill Gulliver. Even the Lilliputian king’s agreement to the plan that Gulliver be blinded and starved is presented as an example of his mercy and justice.
Question 15.
Write a character sketch of the Lilliputian emperor.
Answer:
The Lilliputian king is taller than his six-inch tall subjects by the breadth of a nail. He has the pompous name of Golbasto Momaren Evlame Gurdilo Shefin Mully Ully Gue. His power and majesty impresses Gulliver even though he is laughable, as despite his tiny size he believes he can control Gulliver. He is proud of possessing the tallest trees and the biggest palace in the kingdom and is quite hospitable, spending a fortune on his captive’s food.
The king is a threatening and sinister figure embodying political tyranny and abuse of power despite his diminutive size. He displays willingness to execute his subjects for trivial reasons such as politics or honour which gives him a frightening aspect. He is vulnerable to manipulation by his ministers, Flimnap and Skyresh Bolgolam, and is too easily influenced by his favourites, which leads to sudden shifts in loyalty. He also loves war, and really wants to enslave the people of his neighbouring island, Blefuscu. He turns against Gulliver when he refuses to help him destroy Blefuscu’s freedom.
Question 16.
Write a short note on the Brobdindnagians.
Answer:
Brobdingnagians are giants, around sixty feet tall, their flora and fauna is correspondingly huge. Besides being physically bigger than Gulliver, they are also morally superior. Gulliver feels vulnerable in this country—stumbles into cow pats, is nearly drowned by a frog, captured by a monkey, and is even vulnerable to flies and wasps. The Brobdingnagians are subject to temptations of the humankind, but choose morality and common sense rather than vice and folly. The farmer with his greed and lack of compassion in his attempts to profit from Gulliver is an aberration, not the norm, whereas Glumdalclitch is kind and caring.
The Brobdingnagian system of government is based on moral values; members of government lead by example; the king questions Gulliver closely about England, and concludes his compatriots are “the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth.” The farmer represents the average Brobdingnagian who is of no great gifts or intelligence, wielding an extraordinary power over Gulliver simply by virtue of his immense size.
Question 17.
The King of Brobdingnag is a giant not just physically but also morally. Comment.
Answer:
The King of Brobdingnag is a true intellectual, well versed in political science among other disciplines. He rules people wisely and compassionately, questions Gulliver about England and is shocked by the moral corruption prevalent in the government and institutions there. He is eager to learn and asks Gulliver about the government of England to leam good practices. He is moral and scrupulous.
On hearing about bribery, corruption, influence peddling, or hypocrisy, he concludes that Englishmen must be “the most pernicious . race of little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth”. The King is also a good statesman; he asks Gulliver some probing questions about administration and economy that he can’t answer. He is gentle and peace loving. When Gulliver offers the king the recipe for gunpowder, on hearing of the destruction that can be caused due to it, he demands that Gulliver never mention it again.
Question 18.
What impression do you form of the Lilliputians after reading of their political views?
Answer:
In this chapter, Lilliputians seem as mentally small as they are physically diminutive. Like any big rivals, Lilliput and its equally tiny neighbour Blefuscu conceitedly think that they are the only two “great empires” in the universe. Even the presence of the gigantic Gulliver cannot convince them of their relative insignificance. Reldresal informs Gulliver that Lilliputian philosophers have logically proved that Gulliver must have dropped from outer space because there could not be enough food for him on earth.
Their histories, “which go back six thousand moons, make no mention of other empires than Lilliput and Blefuscu”—demonstrates the narrow view of both philosophers and historians so bound by their prejudices that they can’t see things clearly in their proper proportion. The warring parties are the High-Heels and the Low-Heels; the Lilliputian emperor favours the Low-Heels while the Lilliputian heir to the throne wears one high heel and a low one. Blefuscu and Lilliput are at war because of religious differences, represented by the manner in which eggs are broken before being eaten; earlier everyone broke the larger end of the egg. This gives an insight to their political crisis and war with their neighbour over non-issues.
Question 19.
Briefly describe Gulliver’s meeting with the King of Laputa?
Answer:
As Gulliver entered the palace, he saw the king seated on his throne. In front of the king was a large table filled with globes and spheres, and mathematical instruments of all kinds. The king was engrossed” in a problem and took no notice of Gulliver even though Gulliver and the others accompanying him made sufficient noise upon entering the court. After an hour, the king finally solved the mathematical problem he was working on and it was only then, when he was at leisure, that the flapper gently struck his mouth, and his right ear. Only then did the king take notice of Gulliver.
He appeared startled, though he had been informed earlier of their arrival. He spoke some words to Gulliver, whereupon immediately a young man with a flap came up to his side. As Gulliver made a sign that he did not need a flapper, the king and his whole court formed a very poor opinion of his intelligence. The king asked him several questions and though Gulliver spoke many languages the king could neither understand nor be understood. However, he gave Gulliver an apartment in his palace and two servants to attend on him.
Question 20.
Briefly describe the Academy of Lagado. What does the Academy of Lagado do generally?
Answer:
The Royal Academy was located at Lagado, the largest metropolis of Balnibarbi. It was housed not in a single building, but consisted of a continuation of several houses on both sides of a street. These houses which had been lying vacant had been purchased and converted into an Academy for research and study. Gulliver’s description of the Academy questioned the usefulness of the experiments carried out by the “scientists”.
He described all sorts of experiments that sounded ridiculous: extracting sunbeams out of a cucumber, reducing human excrement to its original food, turning limestone into gunpowder, building houses by starting with the roof, etc. Gulliver visited a class where the students worked on a machine that produced random words. He also met a linguist who was attempting to get rid of all aspects of speech excluding nouns, and a math professor who had his students eat wafers with mathematical equations written on them.
Question 21.
Who all from the past did Gulliver meet in Giubbdubdrib and how did he get to meet them? What lesson do you learn from Gulliver’s meetings with the historical ghosts?
Answer:
Gulliver discovered that in Giubbdubdrib there were sorcerers who were able to resurrect the dead for one day. Then later he noticed that the governor had spirits as servants and was curious. Thus, the governor made it possible for him to speak to spirits from the past. He spoke to many ghost out of which the story names Alexander the great, Hannibal, Caesar, Pompey and Brutus. Gulliver’s meetings with the historical ghosts tell us that:
(a) Some of the facts we read about heroes may not be true. Gulliver finds out that several famous stories about Alexander and Hannibal are not true. Alexander didn’t die from a fever, he reveals. He died from drinking too much. And Hannibal never broke any rocks blocking him from the Alps using vinegar. This introduces one of the key themes of this section of the novel: that history itself is a pack of lies.
(b) We also learn that Gulliver really admires men who kill or assassinate severe, exploitative leaders in the name of freedom. He feels that Brutus’s assassination of Jufius Caesar was justified.
Question 22.
What do the Houyhnhnms find amazing about Gulliver? Do you think that Swift meant the country of the Houyhnhnms to represent an ideal society?
Answer:
The Houyhnhnms were amazed that Gulliver, who they thought must be a Yahoo, was teachable, civil, and clean. These qualities were altogether opposite to the qualities possessed by the Yahoos. The Houyhnhnms, who came to see him or talk with him, could hardly believe him to be a Yahoo, because his body had a different covering from the others of his kind. They were astonished to observe him without the usual hair or skin, except on his head, face, and hands. They were perplexed about his clothes, and wondered whether they were a part of his body, for Gulliver never took them off till the family was asleep, and got them on before they woke in the morning.
Swift describes the Houyhnhnms as creatures who live simple lives and are wholly devoted to reason. The Houyhnhnms have created a society in which there is no crime, no poverty, no disagreement, and no unhappiness. They speak clearly, they act justly, and they have simple laws. They are untroubled by greed,politics, or lust. They live a life of cleanliness and exist in peace and serenity. They live by the grand maxim: cultivate reason and be totally governed by it. So perfect is their society in fact, that they have no concept of lies, and therefore no words to express it.On the other hand, there is neither joy or passion, nor love. The author by way makes us understand that the country of the Houyhnhnms is not an ideal society because it lacks life and love. He seems tQ direct the readers into understanding what could be a utopia but is in fact the opposite.
Question 23.
What view of humanity is presented by comparisons between humans and Yahoos?
Answer:
Gulliver, as a fundamentally decent man, dissociates himself from the Yahoos. However, the Houyhnhnm master’s descriptions of the Yahoos and Gulliver’s own observations confirm that the Yahoos’ behaviour is identical to that of human beings at their worst. For example, they are greedy, so that one Yahoo will keep for himself enough food to feed fifty. They have an inordinate fondness for shiny stones, which they hoard secretly in their kennels, and which are the focus of many fights between Yahoos. This is a reference to human avarice. The Yahoos eat to excessively and they are prone to diseases, just as humans are.
Sometimes, a distinction is drawn between humans and Yahoos. Gulliver’s Houyhnhnm master, in spite of his poor view of the Yahoos, notes that Gulliver falls short of them in respect of physical agility. He also points out that while he does not blame the Yahoos for their despicable behaviour, since they are not endowed with reason, when man, a creature who claims to be an intelligent being, commits crimes, he is worse than a beast. Instead of using reason to choose virtue, as the Houyhnhnms do, man uses reason to enlarge his vices.
Question 24.
Who attacked Gulliver and his companions? How did Gulliver escape?
Answer:
Gulliver and his companions set out from Tonquin to trade with neighbouring islands. On the tenth day, they were attacked by two groups of pirates. Gulliver realised that one of the pirates was a Dutchman. Gulliver, who spoke Dutch well, begged him for consideration as they were Christians and Protestants. Gulliver’s pleas, however, angered the Dutchman. It was the captain of the larger of two pirate ships, a Japanese, who spoke to Gulliver and decreed that the sailors should not be killed.
Gulliver reprimanded the Dutchman saying that a Japanese (pagan) had more mercy than Christian. This remark inflamed the Dutchman and he wanted Gulliver thrown into the sea. This was a matter on which the captains of both ships disagreed. They divided the rest of the crew amongst themselves and set Gulliver adrift in a small canoe, with paddles and a sail, and four days’ provisions.
Question 25.
How do the Laputian people differ from those in most countries?
Answer:
The Laputians are peculiar in their habits, and countenances. As they walk, they keep their heads tilted to right, or left. Their eyes never focus on the world around them as one of their eyes is turned inward, and the other directly up to the zenith. Their garments are adorned with the figures of suns, moons, and stars; interwoven with those of fiddles, flutes, harps, trumpets, guitars, harpsichords, and other instruments of music.
They are forgetful and lose interest in the happenings around them while thinking. So they have servants following them carrying a blown bladder, fastened like a flail to the end of a stick and filled with small quantity of dried peas, or little pebbles. With this they flap the mouths and ears of those who stand near them to rouse them and remind them they have to speak or listen. They give a soft flap on their eyes if they are wrapped in cogitation.
Question 26.
Do you think that there is irony in the behaviour and learning of the Laputians. What do you think is the author trying to satirize?
Answer:
There is irony in the behaviour and learning of laputians because although the Laputians had good theoretical knowledge and were dexterous enough on a piece of paper, in the common actions and behaviour of life, they were clumsy, awkward, and unhandy people. They may be dextrous in use of the rule, the pencil, and the divider, but were slow and perplexed in their conceptions upon all other subjects, except those of mathematics and music.
While they were engrossed in mathematics, they had poorly designed houses with no right angles. They were fond of music but what they played sounded like noise to Gulliver. The Laputians engaged in the astronomy and had great faith in judicial astrology, but did not own it publicly.The Laputians seemed to lack practical application of their theoretical knowledge. Swift tries to satirize the folly in making theories that do not have any practical application. He was satirizing the trend in England and Europe where there were new theories coming up which had no practical application. Swift by satirizing the Laputians makes us understand that while knowledge and information is important, it should have an impact in human life.
Question 27.
What made the island of Laputa fly?
Answer:
At the centre of the island of Laputa was a deep canyon, called Flandona Gagnole, or the astronomer’s cave. This contained all their astronomical instruments and a giant magnet six yards long, in the middle of it. The island was raised, lowered and moved from one place to another at the king’s astronomers at his orders with its magnetic force. At one end the magnet had the power of attraction, and at the other the power of repulsion.
These two charges could be reversed by means of an attached control. The magnet was sustained by a strong axle upon which it played, and was poised so exactly that the weakest hand could turn it. It could not be removed from its place by any force, because the hoop and its feet were one continued piece with the bottom of the island. Of course, the movement of Laputa had limits: it couldn’t go beyond the king’s own dominions, or islands he controlled at sea level; neither could it rise higher than four miles above the Earth.
Question 28.
What methods of appointing politicians as suggested by the professors, Gulliver feels are “wholly out of their senses”? Bring out the irony.
Answer:
At the Academy, Gulliver met some professors who were studying issues of government. He sarcastically referred to them as being “wholly out of their senses”. They proposed that monarchs should choose favourites based on their wisdom, capacity, and virtue. They wanted to teach ministers to look for the public good. These professors proposed that merit, great abilities, eminent services should be rewarded.
They suggested that princes be instructed to know their true interest, by placing it on the same foundation with that of their people. Another of their wild schemes was to choose for employments persons qualified to exercise them. Gulliver sarcastically refers to these scientists as being “wholly out of their senses” and their schemes “wild” as what they proposed was not fanciful or outlandish but sensible and down-to-earth, unlike schemes suggested by the other professors.
Question 29.
Briefly describe Gulliver’s arrival at and his interaction with the king of Luggnag?
Answer:
At the court of Luggnag, Gulliver was commanded to crawl upon his belly, and lick the floor as he advanced; but, on account of his being a stranger, care was taken to have it made so clean, that the dust was not offensive. When he had crept within four yards of the throne, Gulliver raised himself gently upon his knees, and then striking his forehead seven times against the ground, he pronounced the words, as they had been taught to him. The king was much delighted with his company, and ordered his BLIFFMARKLUB, or high- chamberlain, to appoint a lodging in the court for him and his interpreter; with a daily allowance for his table, and a large purse of gold for his common expenses. He stayed three months in this country.
Question 30.
How does Gulliver’s Master Houyhnhnm respond when Gulliver tries to explain he comes from another country and that he sailed to the island in a boat built by humans?
Answer:
Gulliver tries to explain to his Master Houyhnhnm that he had arrived at his island in a ship made and sailed by men, that he was set ashore thanks to an argument between men. Gulliver’s Master told Gulliver that he did not believe there could be a country beyond the sea, or that a parcel of brutes could move a wooden vessel wherever they pleased upon water. But what he found even more amazing was that he was sure there wasn’t a Houyhnhnm alive who could make such a vessel, and neither was there one who would trust Yahoos to manage it.
After making his Master promise not to get angry, Gulliver explained that in his country, the Houyhnhnms were the brutes and the men were the reasonable beings. He added that if he told his countrymen, they would hardly think it probable that anywhere on earth a Houyhnhnm was the presiding creature of a nation, and a Yahoo the brute. Gulliver’s Master Houyhnhnm is unable to understand how horses despite being larger and stronger, could be compelled to serve humans.
Question 31.
What are the Houyhnhnms’ customs for the ten days before an elderly Houyhnhnm is about to die and what are the customs for a funeral?
Answer:
Some weeks before their death, the Houyhnhnms feel a gradual decay or a weakening but without pain. During this time many of their friends come and visit them, because they cannot go out visiting other people with their usual ease and satisfaction. The Houyhnhnms are invariably able to figure out that they are about to die. As a result, about ten days before their death, they start returning the visits that have been made them by those who are nearest in the neighbourhood and take solemn leave of their friends.
They behave as if they were going to some remote part of the country, where they are designed to pass the rest of their lives. Their friends and relations express neither joy nor grief at their departure; nor does the dying person express the least regret that he is leaving the world any more than if he were upon returning home from a visit to one of his neighbours.
Question 32.
Describe Gulliver’s meeting with the sailors? How does Gulliver react to their offer to take him back to Europe?
Answer:
While he was escaping from the natives, Gulliver spied a ship on the horizon. Gulliver’s hatred of the Yahoos made him decide to go back to the island rather than be rescued by European Yahoos. He hid on the island but,.unfortunately, the ship’s sailors came ashore on the island for water and found Gulliver. They spoke to him in Portuguese, asking him who he was. He replied in the same language, telling them that he was a “poor Yahoo banished from the Houyhnhnms”. Gulliver told them that he was from England. He spoke with neighing intonations which made the sailors laugh.
The sailors took Gulliver aboard their ship, where he met the captain, Don Pedro de Mendez. Gulliver was unhappy to be back among the Yahoos and he tried to throw himself into the sea to swim away, but was caught before he could. Don Pedro made Gulliver promise that he would not try to kill himself on the way home. Gulliver promised reluctantly.
Question 33.
Explain the Laputian Tailor’s method of measuring Gulliver for a suit of clothes. Why didn’t this work well? Do you think clothes are used as a motif in the novel?
Answer:
The tailor who was to stitch Gulliver’s clothes did not take measurements in the normal way. He took measurement of clothes differently. He took Gulliver’s altitude by a quadrant, and then, with a rule and compasses, described the dimensions and outlines of the whole body, which were entered upon paper. When he returned with the clothes that he had stitched, they were ill-made, and quite out of shape, as the tailor had made a mistake in calculation. However, it didn’t matter because others were similarly dressed.
In the novel, clothing seems to carry an important meaning because we see how Gulliver pays meticulous attention to his clothes. The clothes he wears differs in each of his travels and seem to symbolize him distancing himself from the social conventions of England because in Laputa his clothes were irregular and out of shape. Clothes could also symbolize identity and with each culture Gulliver also adapts and dons the cultural identity of the place.
Question 34.
Write a brief note on the Laputians.
Answer:
The Laputians are a race of strange people. Their heads are always leaning to right or left and their eyes do not focus on the world around them. One of their eyes is turned inward, and other looks up to the zenith. The live on a floating island, controlled by a central magnet. They have only two interests: mathematics and music, and are very far advanced in these. However, they are impractical as they cannot build houses with right angles, and they cannot sew clothes that fit.
The reason is that they do not take measurements from real life, preferring instead to use equations to prove what has to be true. However, though Laputa floats above, the Laputians continue to have political connections to Balnibarbi, the continent below it as many of the king’s ministers have estates on the continent. The king maintains a strict tribute policy; if people do not send in tributes, he orders his astronomers to float the island right above them, blocking the sun and rain and causing further trouble by dropping stones on them.
Question 35.
How were rebels successful in one case against the king of Laputa?
Answer:
The residents of Lindalino, the second City in the Kingdom, had often complained to the king of great oppression by their governor but their complaints were in vain. The people united and shut the Town Gates, seized the Governor, and erected four large towers, one at every comer of the city equal in height to a strong pointed rock that stood directly in the centre of the city. A large magnet was fixed upon the top of each tower and rock. The townspeople had stored provisions and they would not be short of water as a river ran through the town.
When the king heard of these preparations by Lindalinians eight months later, he commanded that the island should be floated over city. The island hovered over them several days depriving them of the sun and the rain. They were pelted with great stones but the citizens hid in the four towers, and other strong buildings, and underground vaults. When the king lowered the island within forty yards of the top of the towers and rock, the magnets fixed on the towers pulled island down at a great speed and damaged the base. The king was forced to give in to the Lindalinians.
Question 36.
What did the Laputians talk of? Why did Gulliver find this strange?
Answer:
The Laputians, when they met, discussed news and politics. Gulliver found their inclination towards news •and politics, inquiries into public affairs, and giving of judgments in matters of state, and they way they disputed party opinions baffling. But he took this quality to arise from a very common infirmity of human nature, inclining us to be most curious and conceited in matters where we have least concern, and for which we are least adapted by study or nature.
The Laputians feared changes in heavenly bodies: and the movement of the earth and the sun. These fears that kept them awake at nights and whenever they met, they discussed their fears. When the Laputians met an acquaintance they inquired about the sun’s health. Gulliver likens their conversation to that of boys who like to hear terrible stories of spirits and hobgoblins but which cause them fear.
Question 37.
Write a brief note on the king of Luggnag.
Answer:
The Luggnaggian king’s behaviour is yet another example of the kind of random cruelty too much power inspires in a person. Anyone appearing before him must say, “May your celestial majesty outlive the sun, eleven moons and a half’. This is an example of flattery the king expects as his due.In his megalomania, the king makes Gulliver kneel in front of him and lick the ground in front of his feet. This in fact is a common practice in this kingdom. At times the ground is dusty and his subjects stand before him with their mouths full of dust, trying not to cough because coughing in front of the King is against the law and could get them executed.
Sometimes, the king assassinates people he does not like by sprinkling the ground in front of his feet with poison. What’s more, accidents have happened in the past where the poison hasn’t been properly cleaned up and people have died. The king has been sorry about this and got the pageboy, who neglected to give orders for cleaning the floor, whipped. Though he is merciful enough to forgive the pageboy when he apologises, he is not sorry enough to stop his method of execution.
Question 38.
What does Gulliver tell his master about the Houyhnhnms in his country? What is his reaction to this?
Answer:
Gulliver told his master that the Yahoos were the only governing animals in his country, and though they had Houyhnhnms among them. They were employed in travelling, racing, or drawing chariots. Although they were treated with much kindness and care, if they got injured or diseased they were sold, and forced into drudgery till they died. After they died, their skins were stripped, and sold, and their bodies were left to be eaten by dogs and birds of prey.
Horses kept by farmers and carriers, and other mean people, had to work harder and were fed poorly. Men also used bridles, saddles, spurs, and whips on horses. Horses had plates of a certain hard substance of iron, below their hooves, to save their hooves from being broken by the stones over which humans made them ride. This angered Gulliver’s Master. He wondered how human beings dared to ride upon a Houyhnhnm’s back as the Houyhnhnms were physically much stronger.
Question 39.
How does Gulliver characterize doctors, lawyers and the ministers of state in speaking to his Master?
Answer:
Gulliver refers to doctors as “another sort of people, who get their livelihood by attending the sick.” They make a profit from those who are sick. They give fake potions to make people cleanse their insides. This group of people, the doctors, make so much profit on diseases that they encourage people to think that they were sick even when they aren’t. Physicians have given several names to these diseases that exist only in the sufferer’s imagination. They have invented imaginary cures for these diseases and so for the drugs that are proper for them.
Gulliver criticises lawyers severely as well. He explains how lawyers are trained from babyhood to defend the wrong side, so they have no sense of justice. He demonstrates this with the example of a neighbour stealing his cow. Lawyers like to split hairs and talk about irrelevant details to distract people from the simple facts of all their cases. In pleading, they studiously avoid entering into the merits of the cause; but are loud, violent, and tedious, in dwelling upon all circumstances which are irrelevant. They have their own private way of speaking, which excludes ordinary people from either understanding or making laws
According to Gulliver ministers are people who are totally without any emotion besides ambition for money, power and titles. These ministers put their words to all uses, except for speaking their mind. They never let others know what is on their mind. The only time they tell the truth is when they intend the others to take it for a lie, and they lie, with the aim of it being taken as the truth. Their essential skills include the ability to get rid of an inconvenient relative; to undermine their predecessors and to shout endlessly against corruption at court.
Question 40.
Give an analysis of the Houyhnhnms and their culture.
Answer:
Gulliver describes the Houyhnhnms as a noble race who are virtuous by nature. They have no conception of evil. They are rational beings and their motto is to cultivate reason, and to be wholly governed by it. Reason is indisputable for the Houyhnhnms and it is not tainted by passion and interest. As a result there are no controversies, wrangling or disputes among the Houyhnhnms. Friendship and benevolence are the two principal virtues among the Houyhnhnms; and these are not confined to particular objects, but universal to the whole race; for a stranger from the remotest part is treated as an equal to the nearest neighbour, and is made to feel at home. They preserve decency and civility in the highest degrees, but are altogether ignorant of ceremony.
They have no fondness for their colts or foals, but take good care of their education. To keep their population under control, the Houyhnhnms have one foal of each sex. But the race of inferior Houyhnhnms, bred up to be servants, is allowed to produce three of each sex, to serve in the noble families. The Houyhnhnm society is based on rigid segregation of breeds and species. To preserve the race from degenerating, Houyhnhnms marry according to the colour of the coat. Marriages of the Houyhnhnms are arranged by parents and they get married.
Question 41.
What a brief note on the Houyhnhnm way of upbringing and education for the young?
Answer:
The young ones are brought up on a strict diet and are not allowed to eat oats, except upon certain days, till they are eighteen years old. They are rarely given milk. In summer they graze two hours in the morning, and two hours in the evening; but the servant foals are allowed to graze for an hour at each time. A great part of their grass is brought home, which they eat at the most convenient hours, when they can be spared from work. The young ones of both sexes are trained in self-control, diligence, exercise, and cleanliness.
The Houyhnhnms have an admirable system of educating the youth of both sexes. The youth are trained to strength, speed, and hardiness, by exercising them in running races up and down steep hills, and over hard stony grounds; and when they are all in a sweat, they are ordered to leap into a pond or river. Four times a year the youth of a certain district meet to show their proficiency in running and leaping, and other feats of strength and agility; where the victor is rewarded with a song in his or her praise
Question 42.
What kind of place is Glubbdubdrib? Who rules over it? What strange powers does he have?
Answer:
Glubbdubdrib is an island of sorcerers or magicians. It is about one third as large as the Isle of Wight, and extremely fruitful. It is governed by the head of a certain tribe, who are all magicians. The eldest in succession becomes prince or governor. The governor lives in a noble palace, which has a park of about three thousand acres, surrounded by a wall of hewn stone twenty feet high. In this park are several small enclosures for cattle, com, and gardening. The governor was skilled in necromancy or a form of magic involving communication with the deceased—either by summoning their spirit or raising them bodily.
He had the power of calling whom he pleased from the deadend commanding their service for twenty- four hours. Also, he could not call the same persons up again in less than three months, except upon very extraordinary occasions. When he saw the servants in the palace, he noticed the guards were dressed in a very strange manner, and with something in their appearance made Gulliver’s flesh creep with horror. The attendants appeared and disappeared. Gulliver was apprehensive, but the governor reassured him saying that he would receive no hurt.
Question 43.
What type of animal frightens away the horrible creatures that attack Gulliver in the fields? Write a brief note on this animal and his family.
Answer:
Gulliver was attacked by the ugly deformed Yahoos. He was rescued by another resident of the island: a kind, gentle looking grey, horse who seemed to frighten the gross animals away. Unlike the Yahoos, the horse had a very mild aspect, never offering the least violence. When Gulliver reached out to stroke its neck, it disdainfully shook his head, and softly raised its right forefoot to remove his hand. The horse seemed fascinated by Gulliver, and his clothing. The horse neighed in a complicated cadence. Another horse joined
the first and the two seemed to be involved in a discussion. They appeared to be so intelligent that Gulliver concluded they were magicians who had transformed themselves into horses. They used the words “Yahoo” and “Houyhnhnm,” which Gulliver tried to pronounce. The two horses parted, and the grey horse took , Gulliver along with him
Question 44.
What does Gulliver ultimately come to believe about the relative virtues of humans and HouUyhmhms?
Answer:
Gulliver was so impressed by the virtues of the Houyhnhnms, that he had started to hate his own species. Gulliver’s love and veneration for the horses is evident when he describes them as being orderly and rational, acute and judicious. They speak clearly, act justly, and have simple laws. Each Houyhnhnm knows what is right and acts accordingly. They are untroubled by greed, politics, or lust. They live a life of cleanliness and exist in peace and serenity. In fact, they have no concept of lies, and therefore no word to express it.
On the other hand are the humans. They give great importance to money. Gulliver finds them greedy and exploitative. Human beings lie to each other. They beg, rob, steal, cheat, and tell lies. They fight wars and kill fellow beings.
Question 45.
Have you ever gone on a journey or an adventure? Do you think going on a journey changes you? Give reasons for your answer.
Encourage the students to think creatively andformulate their own answers.
Answer:
Going on a journey definitely changes people. When we travel, we get to meet people of various different cultures as well as traditions and the interactions with them changes the way we think and feel, it also gives us an opportunity to learn many things. Even in the novel, Gulliver goes on many journeys and meets people of different shapes and sizes and he leams many things about them as well as their language. He also learns about himself in the process. The true point of an adventure and a journey is to give us the thrill of discovery and at the same time encounter new things, thoughts, ideas and that is what challenges us and moulds us. One is never the same after an experience such as that.