GULLIVERS TRAVEL Q1.

Give an account of Gullivers meet with the eminent people of the past and the present? Q2. Pedro De Mendez emerges out to be one of the most attractive characters of the book. Comment ?

Answers 1. Gulliver reached the island of Glubbudbdrib. There he discovered that it was an island of magicians and the governor had the power to call any of the dead for 24 hours. Gulliver was nervous of the ghosts, but at the same time he was excited to fulfill his desire to meet some of the most illustrious people of history. He met Caesar, Brutus, Alexander, Socrates and many others and asked them many questions and held a meaningful discussion on various matters of natural philosophy. He found corruption and human kind degenerated. He also found perjury, oppression and fraud amongst the most excusable acts. By the ghost of Alexander he was told that history books wrongly wrongly stated that he was poisoned to death. The truth was that he died of a fever caused by excessive drinking. The ghost of Hannibal clarified that the account of his crossing the Alps was wrong. The ghost of Aristotle confessed that he had made many mistakes in natural philosophy because he had anticipated many things based on his conjecture. From some of the ghosts of modern kings of Europe,, he learnt that some of the most illustrious families had characteristics of cruelty, falsehood and cowardice masked under

the coat of arms. The ancestors of some of these kings were barber, fiddler and low ranking clergyman. 2. Captain Pedro De Mendez is a true gentleman. He treats Gulliver with extreme kindness and generosity. He embodies the qualities of sensitivity, humaneness and quiet dignity. Gullivers disgust of the yahoos contracts sharply with the captains, kind and gentle behavior. Swift makes Gulliver look ridiculous in his abnormal behaviours. Gulliver is unable to accept kindness. He persists abhorring yahoos and cannot look beyond his prejudices. It is Don Pedro who points out Gulliver duty to his family and tries to make him return to his people with tolerance and affection. The captain combines the reason of the Houyhnhnms with kind gentility of men. He is instrumental in making Gulliver return home.s