I really enjoyed reading the first four chapters of Gulliver’s Travels because of three main points that Swift illustrated that stood out to me: the simplicity of power, the heels, and the eggs.
Firstly, I thought it was remarkable that in order to gain power within the Lilliput people, one only had to be able to perform acrobats better on a rope than his/her competitor. Just from that part I could deduce how satirical Swift was. Swift is comparing the Lilliput’s that might not have any experience or knowledge coming into power with the English people who may hold political positions with no experience or knowledge about issues.
Secondly, the notion about who wore the different types of heels was a great way to illustrate the divisions within the protestant church in England. Swift made sure to point out that it was hard to be in the middle of the two by mentioning the king’s son who wears one high heel and one low heel. Swift told the audience that the king’s son was not comfortable with wearing both as he could not walk, suggesting that the ability to traverse the divisions within England’s protestant church was not easy.
Thirdly, the direction in which to crack an egg is satirized by Swift, who notes that Blefescu, a country with Big-Endians, is enemies with Lilliputians because they are Little-Endians. Swift writes that the Big-Endians were even planning on going to war with the Lilliputians because of the conflict with what side of an egg to crack first. This is wildly absurd and illustrates well the satire that Swift employs.
After reading the first four chapters of part one, I could not help myself to ponder what issues current-day could be as trivial as the side in which to crack an egg. I am not sure which ones could be as specific and as universal, but I am sure the simplicity and the insignificance of the issue could be something we might not be fully aware of yet.