Jonathan Swift’s novel Gulliver’s Travels is filled with fictional characters, irony of all sorts, and interesting places that Gulliver explores. He is treated differently in each kingdom and finds that all the kingdoms have different ways of life and laws that are eccentric. Laputa is the first island he visits. “The Island is made to rise and fall” which is a trait that is new and unheard of. This makes the reader become attached to the plot. Diversity, fiction, and entertainment are thoroughly incorporated in the third part of Gulliver's Travels, making it the most interesting part of the book.
Diversity is essential to keep readers interested and part three offers the most diversity throughout the book. We have seen Lilliput and Brobdingnag already and they are incredibly different from our world but part three offers people from many different kingdoms. This draws us in and makes us invested in the story even more through its similarity with our multicultural society. Each kingdom has different beliefs, people, and ways of life. Many of them are new and unheard of. The “Flying or Floating Island”, Laputa is a very interesting island which can punish cities by lowering them down so they will not get any sun or rain. If they behave even worse, the city will get pelted with giant rocks as a lesson to behave and obey the king. They also have a high level of technology that doesn’t exist in the other kingdoms Gulliver encounters. “The great Empire of Japan” is also mentioned in the book which is really cool and different because it is the first time the author mentioned a real place in the world instead of a fictional one. Overall, Laputa’s diverse populace helps make this part of Gulliver Travels one of the most unique parts.
Fiction compels the reader and gives the book a fun and stirring twist. We have encountered the Lilliputians, the giants, the Houyhnhnms and the Yahoos and even though they are all fictional, the characters and even the setting are fictional during the third part. He goes to Glubbdubdrib, “the Island of Sorcerers or Magicians.” There, he talks to the ghosts that are all around him. Even though many fictional creations are featured in other sections of the book, ghosts and immortals can be found in other forms of literature, making the reader able to picture these characters instantly. He next goes to a kingdom named Luggnagg and “their Struldbrugs or Immortals.” The creative function that is employed in the third part makes it extremely fascinating.
Entertainment is rarely used in classics but in Gulliver’s travels, the irony and sheer ridiculousness really make the reader laugh. In the third part, we encounter people with the most absurd thoughts and ways. “Their Houses are very ill built, the Walls bevil without one right Angle in any Apartment.” This passage from the book shows that even though the people of Laputa are devoted to art and mathematics, they still refuse the simplest and most common of geometry in their buildings making the houses weird and misshapen. He also visited The Grand Academy of Lagado in Balnibarbi where the students were trying to invent new things. “Extracting Sun-Beams out of Cucumbers” and “calcine Ice into Gunpowder” were only two examples of the countless hilarious experiments. The use of irony, humour, and satire makes the third part incredibly fun to read.
The third part of Gulliver’s Travels is the best because of its diversity, the mass amount of fiction, and the entertainment given to the reader. The author makes the reader even more interested in the book and encourages the reader to finish. Through the use of diversity, fiction, and irony, the author uses Guliver as a tool to teach the reader an important lesson: One should always explore more things and go to new places instead of limiting oneself to the knowledge one already knows.
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