This paper explains how in Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift presents his realistic style through a narrative that has three levels of depth.

Essay by ziggy1234College, UndergraduateA+, December 2003

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Swift's Three Worlds

In his book Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift presents his realistic style through a narrative that has three levels of depth. The first level of narration is that of Gulliver's story through his own eyes. The story reads like a personal travelogue, starting with the birth and upbringing of the narrator, and details the places he has traveled to.

"My Father had a small Estate in Nottinghamshire; I was the Third of Five Sons. He sent me to Emanuel-Colledge in Cambridge, at Fourteen Years old, where I resided three Years, and applied my self close to my Studies." pg 15

The writing flows along as the narrator's thoughts and memories surface within his mind, with some ideas sparking new ones, which leads to a chain of connected clauses. This style gives the writing a diary or travelogue like quality, where one continues the train of thought unabated.

Another particular style found in the writing is the deadpan explanation of details, especially quantitative details. The narrator rarely elaborates on how he is feeling or thinking, but supplies the reader with an abundance of facts and figures of his surroundings and situation.

The second level is viewed from the perspective of Swift, who is writing a fantasy story with unreal occurrences and characters. Swift tells the grand story of Gulliver who is shipwrecked on an island inhabited by people who stand 6 inches tall. Gulliver is entrapped by the miniature people but eventually befriends them. He then travels to an island of gigantic proportions, where everything and everyone towers over him. The actual writing style of this second narrative is the same as the first narrative, since it is the same text. But viewing the story as fantasy reveals the creative style within it. Swift creates a complex little...