QUESTION : 34 MARKS: 8 1. Imagine that you are Gulliver. Write a diary entry about his experiences in the land of Giants.'
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Answer:
Explanation:
Dear Diary,
Lately life has been kind of crazy lately. I mean I have been shipwrecked and abandoned on some random island twice now. What are the odds? But since I’m not being thrown into a bowl of cream or being stuffed into some bone marrow right now I thought I’d take some time to reflect on everything that has happened lately. When I was with the Lilliputians, they treated me kindly. They only did this because not only did they fear me, but also because I was of use to them as a weapon against their enemies. I asked myself why did they fear me? It was because I was so much bigger than them; I had the power. However, when I was with the Brobdingnagians I was the weak, powerless one because they were so much bigger than me. I would’ve cleaned the jam in between their toes if they asked me too because I didn’t want to be squashed! I mean that just sounds terribly unpleasant. So I was thinking about the Lilliputians and how they did the tight rope walking, the ribbon passing, and the breaking the eggs rule. All of it seemed absolutely ridiculous. But once I thought about it, it reminded me of England’s government. The subjects tight rope walking were like Parliament, and the emperor was like England’s king. Parliament is there to help run the government but they really don’t do much; its all for show. The king has all the power. But the idea of Parliament makes the people of England feel better. It makes them feel like they have some democracy in the government but in reality they don’t. Parliament is just a distraction to keep them for realizing that the king is really the puppeteer pulling all the strings. Just like the emperor gave the ribbons to the ones he liked, the king of England appoints people who will most easily bend to this will. The emperor also made a ridiculous rule about which way to break an egg and everyone just went with it. The people of England are like me, we are strong enough to overthrow the government, if we can make the government fear us. I mean we have gotten rid of bad kings before so we could do it again. The Lilliputians feared me because of my stature and my strength. In the same way the people of England have stature and strength in their numbers. They should be able to have a say in how the country is run. I just find it ironic that the little Lilliputians tried to control a giant like me when I was so much more powerful than they. I mean when i went to Brobdignag I definitely didn’t try to control the Brobdignanians because they would overpower me with their strength! Speaking of the Brobdignagians they also reminded me of the government in England. In the same way the farmer used me for his own personal gain, politicians also use people for their personal gain. Like I said earlier the king will use people in Parliament to help him achieve his goal: whether its to ban a certain book, license writing, order people to not write anything seditious about the king. The Brobdignagians also showed that they had more division in social class as well as social mobility. The farmer’s daughter was able to move into the king’s palace with me to help. I don’t really see social mobility in England. Farmers stay farmers and noblemen stay noblemen. It’s just how life works. I feel like Brobdignag is what i wish England could be. They aren’t perfect but they seem to be more sensible in their law making and how they run their land. I used to think England was the pinnacle of perfection; the greatest country ever. I thought we did things the best and we were highly intelligent, fair, logical etc. But this journey has given me a chance to see that maybe we are flawed, just like everyone else. Maybe size shouldn’t matter: in the sense that whoever is bigger has all the power. I don’t want to be like the Lilliputians and just because I was bigger I had power and was feared but I also don’t want to be completely like the Brobdignagians either and fear my government just because they were bigger and stronger. What England needs is a balance. No one group or person can hold all the power; Neither the king, parliament, or the people. What England needs is more democracy. Maybe if I ever make it home, I’ll live to see the day in England where size doesn’t matter.
With high hopes,
Gulliver