"Gulliver's Travels" is a book written by Jonathan Swift, and it is about a character named Lemuel Gulliver who decides to travel the world. He comes to all of these foreign lands where he is not treated well. However, the more places he visits, the nicer the people become. As he arrives at the end of the story he has somewhat found a decent place to live. This story is a lot like Jane Eyre in the sense that she too was not treated well among her travels. She started with her aunt, and was not treated well at all. The school was slightly better and her life kept improving with each step she took. Her last two stops were the best parts of her life where she found that someone did indeed love her and then she discovered that she did have an actual family. By including "Gulliver's Travels" in this book, I think that Charlotte Bronte is trying to foreshadow Jane's lifestyle. She is letting the readers know that Jane is not going to be living in one place,but she has learned and grown from all of her experiences as she moves from place to place. It also gives readers the message that even if something does not seem to be working out, if one just gives it time and hopes for the best, they may be surprised what their future can hold. "Gulliver's Travels", also being criticized for its content, portrays Bronte's realization that her work can be equally compared. For the time periods that both of these works were published, it put a target on the authors. In Bronte's eyes, "Gulliver's Travels" can be seen as an equal.
"Gulliver's Travels." Sparknotes. 26 November 2009. 2009.
http://www.sparknotes. com/lit/gulliver/summary.html
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"Gulliver's Travels." Children's Books Online. 28 November 2009. 2004.
http://www.childrensbooksonline.org/Gullivers_Travels/pages/001_gullivers_travels.htm
one of the other important parts of Gulliver is that it is social criticism -- how might this play into the work?
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