Fox 1
Andria Fox
Mrs. Thomas
English IV H
11 October 2011
Outside Reading Project
1. What is satire? What makes it an effective form of criticism? Satire is the use
of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice,
folly (“Satire”).
2. In Gulliver’s Travels, Swift examines the essence of human nature; are
humans basically rational and good beings or impulsive and cruel beasts?
What does Gulliver discover about human nature? Draw your own
conclusion to this question and support it with examples from personal or
current events. Humans are in Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels are impulsive and
assume the worse, such as the tiny people tying down Gulliver while he was
asleep because they were unsure if he was good or bad.
3. What, if anything, should be free from attack by satire? Newspapers and news
press should be free from satire.
4. What is accomplished in the story by changing the size of Gulliver and the
people with whom he interacts? How does the change of scale affect
Gulliver’s experiences and his relationships (quote the text to support your
answer). It takes on a different perceptive of how people react to situations were
they are the odd one of many people who are use to the same people and things
happening all the time.
Fox 2
5. What were Jonathan Swift’s views on science and technology? What are
yours? How do they compare? I have no views on science and technology.
6. How does Gulliver’s Travels compare to the short story you read in terms of
views on science and technology? Gulliver’s Travels has left to do with
technology than a lot of other short stories I have read. Normally the short stories
I read are about the future and the way technology impacts society.
Fox 3
Works Cited
“Satire” dictionary.reference.com. 2011. Web. 11 October 2011.