TESTS AND ANSWERS

TEST 2

_____ 1. Gulliver is forced to defend himself against

A. the royal dwarf
B. the flies and wasps
C. the beggars of Brobdingnag

_____ 2. The episode with the Queen's maids of honor

A. reflects the moral behavior of English court ladies
B. shows Swift's avoidance of gross physical details
C. shows that palace intrigues do not depend on the size of the participants

_____ 3. Gulliver leaves the land of the giants when the

A. Kings orders his expulsion
B. nurse reluctantly helps him build a boat
C. box he was left in is carried away by an eagle

_____ 4. Which is not true of the scientists of Laputa?

A. they need servants to remind them they are in the middle of a conversation
B. their wives deceive them at every opportunity
C. their experiments are aimed at improving the standard of living

_____ 5. Which is an undertaking of the Academy of Projectors?

A. extracting sunbeams from cucumbers
B. transmuting lead into gold
C. growing wool on animals other than sheep

_____ 6. The Struldbrugs are

A. happy because they live forever
B. miserable because they lose their youth and health at the same age as mortals
C. the teachers and purveyors of wisdom because of their unlimited experience

_____ 7. The Houyhnhnms at first do not regard Gulliver as a Yahoo because of his

A. clothing
B. speech
C. ability to survive on his own

_____ 8. Gulliver explains to the Houyhnhnms that the rulers in his land govern

A. by virtue of their power of reasoning far beyond that of the brutish Yahoos
B. an intricate system of succession and parliamentary rules
C. by circumventing their physical inefficiency with weapons

_____ 9. The most despicable characteristic of the Yahoos is

A. pride
B. greed
C. ambition

_____ 10. The visit to the country of the Houyhnhnms

A. leaves Gulliver insane
B. proves the possibility of "educating" the animal world
C. convinces Gulliver that there is no real difference between men and beasts

11. Discuss the ways in which Swift plays with notions of "big" and "small" in Gulliver's Travels.

12. Discuss Swift's handling of pride in the Travels.

13. What is the function of religion in Gulliver's Travels?

14. Discuss Swift and his relationship to the Enlightenment.

15. Why is Gulliver's Travels relevant today?

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