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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Another provision states that Gulliver cannot come within the city limits without how much warning?

2. Who came to see Gulliver, after he was rescued from the animal?

3. How do the men ensure that Gulliver will not escape, once he is in the temple?

4. Gulliver describes the inner city as a collection of houses at least how many stories high?

5. What are the two factions in Lilliput called?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the emperor of the little people like? What type of personality does he seem to have?

2. Swift meant for this part of the book to be a satire on the French government and he uses the size of everything as a farce against the government. Swift is saying that he believes that everything in France is bigger. At the time, Louis the XVI was the king of France and Louis loved to build huge estates and use his wealth for his own desires. King Louis was known to not know or care about the conditions of the people whom he governed. Knowing that, how does Part 2, Chapter 4 mirror activities in France?

3. Why doesn't the emperor want Gulliver alive anymore and how does this reveal the emperor's true nature?

4. Describe the misunderstanding that the emperor's men have about Gulliver's watch.

5. Explain how the people treat Gulliver, the longer he stays their captive.

6. Why does the secretary tell Gulliver that the Lilliputians and the people of Blefuscu are at war?

7. Describe at least four of the provisions of Gulliver's release.

8. How does Gulliver describe the emperor's attitude during Gulliver's capture?

9. About a month after Gulliver is freed, the principal secretary pays him a visit. What does the secretary explain to Gulliver about the problems facing the Lilliputians and how does Gulliver's freedom factor in?

10. Gulliver is a doctor, but his heart seems to lie with exploring the world around him. What evidence supports that, in Part 1, Chapter 1?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Swift uses the Laputans to poke fun at modern science and say that experiments are time consuming and costly and, often, fail completely. Do you think that scientific studies are worth the money and time invested, over all? If so, list examples of modern scientific advances that you think have been beneficial and why. If not, list scientific flops that you think have wasted or are wasting money and why.

Essay Topic 2

Gulliver is a doctor by profession, but an explorer at heart. Do you feel that most people take on professions that they enjoy, or do they get stuck in careers that they hate for most of their lives? Why did Gulliver become a doctor when he really wanted to be an explorer? What are some reasons that people in modern times do things that they'd rather not do.

Essay Topic 3

Gulliver is clearly an explorer at heart, even though he is a doctor by profession. Do you feel that it was appropriate for him to keep going on voyages, even though he kept leaving his family and just barely avoiding death when he did? If you were Gulliver, would you have given up traveling? If so, why and when would you have decided to stay home? Use details from the story to support your opinions.

(see the answer keys)

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