Gulliver's Travels CBSE Class 9 SA 2 Important Question and Answers

Gulliver Travels Class 9 SA 2 Important Questions and Answers
Gulliver Travel's Study Material

Q1.A. Describe the notion of money which is prevalent in Gul liver’s country and which he explained to the master of Houyhnhnms

Ans. Gulliver told the master that when a man acquires a considerable amount of money, he can purchase the finest clothes, the best house, larg e areas of land, the most costly food and drinks. He can also have the choice of the most beauti ful woman. Besides, the rich men enjoyed the fruits of the poor man’s labour. During his conversation, the most amazing fact which Gulliver revealed to the master was that the n umber of poor people were far greater than the rich ones. The poor people were mostly beggars. They lived a hard life. Such a vast difference between the rich and the poor people was ca used by the power of money. Obviously, rich had made the poor people their slaves. This fact was really shocking for the master of Houyhnhnms.



2What did Munodi, the former Governor of Lagado, inform Gul liver of the conditions in Balnibarbi? .
Ans.In his conversation with Gulliver, Munodi, the former G overnor of Lagado, tells about the conditions prevailing in Balnibarbi. Some forty years b efore, he says, some persons from Balnibarbi went to Laputa. They stayed there for five months. They studied the schemes followed by the people of Laputa. When they came back, they introduced some new schemes in the fields of arts, sciences and mechanics. They set up academies of projects in many cities. In all these academies the professors chalked out new schemes, new methods of agriculture and building. They used new instruments and tools for trade and manufacture. In the new system one man was competent to do the job of ten. The building were so designed and made as to last forever with repairing. But then there was another side of the picture. In fol lowing the ambitious plans the new-age innovators and scientists remained without food or clothes . Their houses were in ruins. Munodi did not toe the lines of these impractical dream ers. He followed old methods and was, thus, unacceptable in the kingdom. He had prese rved his estate in its original form.

3.How was Gulliver influenced by the excellent qualiti es of the Houyhnhnms? Explain.

Ans.The Houyhnhnms were the horses. They were the rulers of the strange land popularly known as Houyhnhnms. They were also famous for their hig h qualities as they were rational beings, they showed rationality in every step. Their sense of humanity saved Gulliver when he was attacked by the yahoos. We can find high sense of hospitality in their behaviour towards Gulliver. In fact, the Houyhnhnms were the gr eat hosts. They took Gulliver to their home and served him food. He was also provided with suit able opportunity to learn their language. The excellent qualities which the Houyhnhn ms filled in Gulliver was their complete detestation of all falsehood. In fact, they we re great lovers of truth. They had no idea of lying. Gulliver developed a great respect for them. He even decided to stay in their country forever. He was so much influenced that he di dn’t want to leave this country. But finally he had to leave this strange country.

4.The Houyhnhnms were generous. They had a great impact on Gulliver. Illustrate.

Ans.The Houyhnhnms had a great impact on Gulliver. Gulliv er thought that they could be models for human beings to follow. He found that Houyhnhnms were very rational and logical. They had no idea of evil in a rational being. Then they bel ieved in friendship and benevolence. These were the two prime qualities found in them. Tha t is why, they took no time in befriending a stranger from another part of the globe. They treated him very nicely. They did their best to make him feel at home. They taught him their language so that they had no problem in communicating with him. Houyhnhnms were quite decent and polite in behavior. T hey were altogether unaware of ceremony. They were very honest, helpful and cooperativ e. Gulliver found to his surprise that they would quickly make up any shortage of any co mmodity in any part of their country. They were also aware of the value and necessi ty of population control. When one of their females had produced one of each sex, she would s top mating with her consort. In fact, the whole race knew how to preserve itself and preven ts it from degeneration. What made Houyhnhnms an enviable race was their rema rkable way of education. They taught their children to love and respect the whole sp ecies. They emphasised the values of temperance, industry, exercise and cleanliness in t heir teachings. The young ones were trained in strength, speed and hardiness by encourag ing them to run races up and down steep hills.

5.What truth does Gulliver seek from the spirits?

Ans.When Gulliver visited Glubbdubdrib which was an isl and of magicians, he found that the Governor was served by spirits. The Governor told Gulliv er that he had the power of calling up any spirit and ask him to serve him for 24 hours, but the same spirit could not be called up again within three months. The Governor offered Gull iver to ask him to call any spirit and he chose to call upon the spirit of Alexander the Great , who assured him that he died not from poison but from excessive drinking. He also saw the Cathaginian General Hannibal’s ghost who clarified that the account of his crossing the Alps was wrong. The ghost of Aristotle confessed that he had made numerous mistakes in natural philosophy because he had anticipated many things based on his conjecture. Gulliver had the occasion to talk to the modern king of Europe. He learnt to his surprise that s ome so-called illustrious families had characteristics of cruelty, falsehood and cowardice mas ked under the coat of arms. He also learnt that some of these kings had a barber, two fidd lers and a low-ranking clergyman as their ancestors

6.The Grand Academy of Lagado is not beyond human comprehe nsion, but quite plausible if we compare it with our own laboratories and experiments. Give a comparative study.

Ans.Gulliver visited the Grand Academy of Lagado situated in a series of houses on both sides of a street. There were about five hundred rooms in whic h scientists were working on several projects. Gulliver met an unkempt scientist who had b een working on extracting sunbeams from cucumber for eight years. He was yet to succeed i n this strange experiment. There was a room in which an architect was working on designing a fantastic way of constructing a house- beginning at the roof and working downwards just as the bee and spider do. Then there was a silk maker and a physician who were work ing on equally strange projects. There was a mathematician who wrote the preposition and demonstration on a thin wafer and made his students swallow it. Such experiments were beyond human comprehension, but quite plausible if we compare them with those going on in our own laboratories. The scie ntists working on building colonies on the Mars or on resurrecting extinct animals like dinosaurs or mammoths seem to be equally absurd and incomprehensible. But looking in the retrospect, many absurd- seeming ideas and theories had come to be true.

7.Explain the great academy of projectors’ Lagado.

Ans.Munodi told him that a group of people who had gone to Lap uta came back with some knowledge of mathematics. They shared their new views and ideas about the arts, science, language and mechanics. They created a great academ y of projectors in Lagado. In these colleges, professors dreamed of new rules and methods of farming and building instruments and tools for all trades. They hoped a single man would do the work of ten. A palace could be built in a week. Tools and instruments would need no re pair. Fruits would ripen when people wished it. Unfortunately, none of these projects had actually work ed yet. The country lay wasted, the houses were in ruins and the people were without food a nd clothes. Still the farmers were determined to promote their mad schemes. Schemes introduced were impractical and the country a nd the people had to suffer. These schemes were not based on realities. The very flying island, a mechanical device, meant desertion of the common earth of reality. The professors w anted to convert life and living to a mechanical process and the result was disastrous.

8.Pedro De Mendez emerges as one of the most attractive c haracters of the book. Comment.

Ans.Pedro De Mendez was a courteous and generous person. He rescued Gulliver and treated him with great patience, and tenderness. He allowed Gulliver to travel on his ship as far as Lisbon. He spoke to him gently and requested him to na rrate his experiences. He offered his finest suit of clothes to replace Gulliver’s ragged an d tattered clothes. Don Pedro was not judgemental. Though Gulliver was rude and unreasonable, the captain tried to change his behaviour in a persuasive manner. Very slowly he transformed a silent and sullen Gulliver into a communicative person. He off ered him good food, wine and a clean cabin to sleep in. When Gulliver tried to jump into the sea, he persuaded him not to repeat the act. Don Pedro showed the same kind of gener osity and understanding that Gulliver’s Houyhnhnm master had shown earlier. Yet Gu lliver considered him repulsive. Guliver was unable to escape from his delusions. Don Pedro is a minor character but plays an important s ymbolic role. He is the touchstone through which we see that Gulliver was no longer a rel iable and objective commentator of reality.

9.Give a description of the strange people on the flying island.

Ans.Looking at the people of flying island, Gulliver found t hat they were very odd. The flying island was called Laputa. The inhabitants’ heads we re tilted on either side, with one eye turned inward and the other looking up. Their clothes w ere decorated with the image of celestial bodies and musical instruments. Some of the m were servants with a ‘flapper’ in their hands to strike the ears of the listener and th e mouth of the speaker at appropriate tunes to prevent them from wandering off from their con versations. They had queer taste for geometrical shapes and figures and their eatables were cut into different geometrical shapes, for example, meat was cut into an equilateral triangle and the beef into a cycloid. Music and mathematics were the two obsessions of these people. They did not have peace of mind, always worrying about unnecessary matters like what would happen if the sun goes out. The women cheated their husbands with their pref erred men as their husbands were too busy in their speculations.

10.How does Gulliver describe the litigation in England t o the Master Horse?

Ans.Gulliver reached the country of Houyhnhnms. They were a breed of horses that were disciplined and rational. He learnt their language a nd communicated with them. He learnt about their customs and told them about the customs of hi s country, England. He told them that there were many crimes and evils in his country . The Judicial system was in a sorry state of affairs. The judges of the courts were corrupt . Lawyers were clever. They argued their client’s case in a clever way. It seemed that only the client was right, others were guilty. The judges were not fair or impartial. Judgem ents were given according to selfish interests. Lawyers indulged in all sorts of evil prac tices. They were trained to show that white is black and black is white. They were liars and misresented facts. Delays were common. It took years to settle a dispute. I t took more than thirty years to decide property cases. The rightful heir had to show p roof that his ancestors had left him the property for the last six generations. People had a violent desire to gain wealth, power and titles by fair and unfair means.