english narrative
... [JS1]: solve the poverty of Ireland, denouncing the English for not trying to solve the problem. ... He was Anglo-Irish, but his real vocation was London and English affairs. ... It tells the reader that the book is about English politics. ... If people saw how reason was applied to political practices in other places, it would lead to a radical reformation of English practices. ... In this way, Gulliver at the beginning is a progressive, scientific person, proud of being English and European. ... He’s reflecting the history of the English monarchy: kings giving titles to those who brought entertainment or pleasure to them (ill-conducted affairs at the time: Gulliver becoming a Nardac because of the great affair he had done). ... Book 1, pattern: 1) narrative logic (his rise to influential position); 2) Descriptive logic (more like a treatise): description of laws and customs in Lilliput; 3) Description of the jealousy, accusations to him (this part could only be understood by contemporary readers, since it’s an allegory, a parody of the accusations that the Whigs made to the Tories after falling from government [satire was very close to events of the time]). ... In ideal terms, even that mechanism would be unnecessary (no individual political leadership, but assemblies à lack of reason in English politics).