satirizes many of humankind's most negative traits. In the first and second parts, including
Gulliver's trips to Lilliput and Brobdingnag, Swift draws attention to the way in which we
resort to war or physical conflict to solve many of our problems. Swift also satirizes the way
we feel the need to control others' basic ways of life, in terms of religion, when he has
Gulliver describe the Trameckstans and Slameckstans and their disagreements. Further, by showing
the response of the peace-loving Brobdingnagian king to Gulliver's prideful boasting about
gunpowder and other weaponry, Swift emphasizes our brutality and savagery.
Swift satirizes the contemporary rage for conducting useless experiments in the name of
progress and science, even when they have no benefit whatsoever for humankind. Experiments like
attempting to extricate sunshine from cucumbers or return human fecal matter to its original
food matter are depicted as a waste of money, resources, and brainpower. Science can be
incredibly useful, and its potential benefit to humanity should perhaps be the way in which we
measure whether an experiment is worthwhile or not.
Swift also points out the
way in which human beings are incredibly animalistic in part four. The Yahoos are very like us,
a similarity that we ought to find somewhat troubling, given how disgusting and loathsome they
are. Swift satirizes our greed and selfishness through these creatures.
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