Gulliver's Travels: Book 2, Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis

The start of the Adventure’s voyage goes well but a storm somewhere north of Madagascar damages the ship and sets them off course into unknown waters. When they finally spot an island, they disembark and separate to look for water. Gulliver is then left behind when a huge “monster” scares his companions into rowing back to the ship without him. Gulliver runs deeper into the island and realizes he is surrounded by giant grass and corn.

In the cornfield, Gulliver is terrified when he runs into a group of the “monsters” carrying giant scythes. As he tries to escape them, he compares himself to a Lilliputian in a human world. He thinks, “undoubtedly philosophers are in the right, when they tell us that nothing is great or little otherwise than by comparison.”

When one of the reapers almost steps on him, Gulliver cries out to save himself and is plucked up by a reaper who then observes him cautiously as if he were a curious animal. Gulliver compares the giant’s gaze to his own gaze examining a weasel in England. The reaper does not crush Gulliver as Gulliver expects him to but instead responds to Gulliver’s attempts to communicate that the man’s pinch is hurting him by depositing Gulliver “gently” in his pocket and running off to show Gulliver to his master, the farmer. The farmer and others gather in awe around Gulliver, who tries to supplicate them with gold, which they don’t recognize as valuable and return to him. They try to converse but speak different languages.

The farmer wraps Gulliver in his handkerchief and brings him home. Gulliver has lunch with the family, who delights in watching him eat his tiny piece of their huge meal. When the farmer’s son grabs Gulliver, the farmer boxes his son’s ears until Gulliver pantomimes a request for the son’s forgiveness which the farmer grants. Gulliver kisses the son’s hand. From here on, Gulliver refers to the farmer as his “master.”

Gulliver is terrified by the cat and nearly squeezed to death by the baby. He observes the disgusting complexion of the farmer’s wife, then remembers that this is because her face is so much enlarged compared to his own. He recalls the beautiful skin of the Lilliputians and their horror at his. After lunch, the farmer’s wife puts him to bed under her handkerchief. While there, Gulliver is attacked by two rats the size of “mastiffs” and manages to save himself by killing one with his sword (the other is scared away).

The farmer’s wife returns and is relieved to find Gulliver alive. She cleans up the mess of the dead rat. After much desperate miming, Gulliver manages to convey to her that he needs to go to the bathroom, which she takes him to the garden to do in privacy behind a leaf. Gulliver asks the reader’s forgiveness for “dwelling on these…particulars” but that, while they seem insignificant, they “will certainly help a philosopher to enlarge his thoughts and imagination, and apply them to the benefit of public as well as private life,” which is Gulliver’s purpose for writing his travels in the first place.