Gulliver's Travels

Gulliver's Travels
By Jonathan Swift
Read in 8th Grade
Gulliver is an ordinary Englishman who goes sailing on an expedition. One day, his ship is destroyed in a storm, and he floats to an island while clinging to life on a piece of wood. There, he falls into a deep sleep. When he wakes up, he finds that he is in a country/island inhabited by the tiny people of Lilliput. They have bound him to the ground, and are attempting to speak to him. Despite their initial fear of him, he is treated well, and eventually, he becomes loved by their people for his services in defeating their enemy. However, he has enemies in court, who turn the king against him. He manages to escape and eventually gets back to England when he is picked up by a ship in the ocean. Despite his terrible ordeal, the sea calls to him, and he leaves once more. This time, the ship is blown off course, and ends up off an island. Gulliver is left behind from a scouting expedition, and finds the island inhabited by giants this time, instead of minions.
He is considered a curiosity by their people, and is alternately used as a showman and cared for by the imperial family. While there, he relates to the king the affairs of Europe, by which the king is appalled at the warring states. He lives in a comparatively tiny box, which is one day carried off by a giant avian inhabitant of the island, and ends up on a ship, safely returning him to England. I found it amusing and interesting that his time on the giant island caused him to see things as smaller than they were, and that he found the proportions of things odd.